Irondequoit Bay Bridge inspection

Highway crews have been called for a special inspection of the Irondequiot Bay Bridge. The work started Tuesday morning.

This bridge is inspected every two years, but because of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the Federal Highway Administration wants every bridge like this to be inspected.

Andy Smith, a senior civil engineer with the DOT says the special inspection was requested by the federal goverment.

"They requested we take a special look at all bridges of these types."

They use a specialized vehicle to make the inspection, the boom supporting the cherry picker in which inspectors work, can actually be extended out over the side of the bridge, and then underneath it, to give them the up close look they need.

"What the inspector does is he has to get close enough to every critical member, ever steel member on the bridge. He's gotta get close enough to look at it, make sure it looks safe, staright, that it's not bowed, he looks at all the connections he checks the bolts visually to make sure they;re tight, he looks for cracking."

The Bay Bridge is in pretty good shape.  They haven't found anything wrong so far, nor do they expect to.  Then again, this was just day one one of an inspection that's expected to take all week to complete.