Nearly seven percent of bridges in Colorado are labeled structurally deficient, the same federal rating given the span that collapsed Wednesday in Minneapolis.

Among them is a Denver span traveled by more than 139,000 motorists daily, a crumbling 43-year-old concrete stretch of Interstate 70 described as the worst in Colorado by Mark Leonard, the chief state bridge engineer.

"We have to be out there on a regular basis and make sure those (structural) members aren’t falling apart," Leonard said.

Late today, Leonard was responding to a federal order requiring all states to immediately inspect bridges similar to the steel-truss structure that collapsed in Minneapolis, sending dozens of vehicles tumbling into the Mississippi River and killing at least four people.

Leonard said two bridges owned by the state are similar, one near Pueblo and one near Buena Vista. Another four similar bridges are owned by cities and counties and local agencies will be notified, he said.

The vivid images of crumpled concrete and steel in Minnesota sent Colorado officials scrambling, with Gov. Bill Ritter requesting a status report on the state’s bridges for review.

His spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said Ritter’s reaction to the tragedy is "concern."

"It is very fair to say nobody wants to see this repeated," Dreyer said, "and if there’s anything we can do to prevent it, it will be done."

Leonard and Doug Aden, chairman of the Colorado Transportation Commission, said it is unclear what caused the bridge in Minneapolis to collapse so it is premature to say whether a similar fall could happen here.

"I don’t think it would happen in Colorado," Aden said. "We do have, which we’ve acknowledged for a long time, a backlog of bridges that need to be replaced and we’re working on that as funds allow."

State transportation officials estimate that backlog at $758 million, a figure that does not include larger projects such as the I-70 viaduct in Globeville, which alone carries a replacement tag of up to $700 million.

Colorado has 3,757 bridges owned by the state and more than 4,790 bridges owned by cities and counties. Of the 3,757 state-owned spans, 110 are considered in need of replacement and another 375 are in need of rehabilitation, said CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman.

Stegman said CDOT spends about $30 million a year on bridge repair and replacement. The department’s annual budget is $1 billion.

State Rep. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, who heads the state’s Joint Budget Committee, said voters’ passage of Referendum C in November 2005 has poured more money into the state’s coffers for transportation. The measure suspended revenue and spending limits on the state government for five years to allow it to recover from cuts forced during the economic downtown.

Still, it "barely makes a dent in the infrastructure needs of Colorado," said Tapia, a civil engineer.

"The highway department does, I feel, the best that they can to try to keep up with the needs but basically what they’re doing is kind of reactive," he said. "They find the worst bridges that almost need to be shut down and they’ll put their resources to that ..."

Tapia and other state officials are awaiting the recommendations of a panel appointed by Ritter in April to find additional funding sources for transportation.

Federal data shows about 77,000 bridges — including the collapsed span in Minneapolis and 7 percent of those in Colorado — fit the definition of "structurally "deficient" in 2006. Authorities define that term as "characterized by deteriorated conditions of significant bridge elements" but said it does not "indicate that a bridge is unsafe."

Leonard said that the state is maintaining safe bridges with 20 inspectors.

"We haven’t increased (the inspection staff) in the last 20 years," Leonard said. "We have become increasingly more efficient with time."

The state inspects its bridges every two years, with two or three spans getting more frequent attention. The I-70 viaduct, for example, is inspected every year and the Bronco Arch — Interstate 25 over the South Platte River — every six months.

Leonard agees with state officials such as Tapia that Colorado is investing too much in reactive maintenance — $20 million in "Band-Aid" repairs on the I-70 viaduct — when it would be more cost-effective to build a new, $700 million viaduct.

"If you have an old car that needs to be replaced, you can keep it running if you spend enough money on repairs," Leonard said. "But over the lifespan of you driving cars, it would make the most sense economically to replace it."

Some drivers interviewed today said they aren’t panicking about the Minneapolis collapse.

"I think that was a freak, freak accident," said Kristine Janssen, who drives pilot vehicles for semis carrying construction equipment.

"The chance of having an accident driving across town are way greater than the chances of driving over a bridge and having it collapse," Janssen said. "I’m not concerned. I trust the (Department of Transportation). Bridges always need work, but they’re not unsafe."

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