JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — You’ve driven across it and maybe even boated under it, but very few have ever been inside it.
We're talking about the Acosta Bridge.
It is hollow and Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) allowed First Coast News the rare access to take a camera and follow an inspection crew as they went inside.
Crews check the inside of the Acosta bridge every two years. It’s dark and with the long expanses of concrete, crews use a grid system checking any old cracks and look for new cracks.
"We verify it and check everything out," explains Grenville Castillo, a bridge inspector with FDOT.
Inspectors say seeing some cracks isn’t anything to panic about. Concrete cracks over time and what they're looking for are any new cracks or cracks that are extending or deepening.
"If there is something more serious our guys will document that, they may look at it again in two years or it may be something they want to repair now," explains Troy Roberts, a spokesman for FDOT.
If it weren’t for the constant roar of traffic overhead, you might forget you are inside the Acosta Bridge. The inspection usually takes an entire day to do.
"We are going to go all the way down to the south end, and then we work our way to the north end and then go to the next box and do the same," Castillo tells the crew.
No major problems were found on this inspection of the Acosta Bridge.
According to the FDOT Bridge Management System, there are more than a dozen bridges in the Northeast Florida area deemed 'structurally deficient'.
Roberts says while the designation sounds frightening, it doesn't mean the bridge is unsafe.
"Structurally deficient bridges are basically older bridges that may need to be inspected a little more often," says Roberts.
Structurally deficient bridges will be inspected yearly instead of bi-yearly.
Here is the list of bridges deemed structurally deficient in our area:
- US-301 (SR-200) over Alligator Creek
- SR-51 over Britt Creek
- I-10 over Piddlin Creek
- US-221 over Woods Creek
- US-221 over Two Pines Creek
- SR-16 over S. Fork of Black Creek
- US-17 SB over Broward River
- SR-13 over New Rose Creek
- SR-115 over Trout River
- SR-105 over Simpson Creek
- US-17 NB over Broward River
- SR-10A WB & EB over Mill Creek
- 95 NB &SB over Nassau River
- Service Rd over San Pablo River
- US-1 over Oyster Creek