Sneaky Corruption: I very leery with engineers and PhDs using their education and their professional stature to justify reducing the engineering standards of a bridge instead of maintaining and enforcing the original standards…especially in this case, where we are massively increasing the duty, traffic and loads of the bridge over nine decades.
MR. MULLIGAN: First of all, the characterization of the traffic on the bridge is Incomplete as far as the -- you said that barely two trucks couldn't pass the -- on the Hinsdale Bridge, and actually only one truck at a time can easily --can pass the bridge. Also, I'm interested on both sides of the bridge, to the geometry issue, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- can go on, and so the truck has to stick its nose way out in the traffic, and there's all sorts of issues with – of obstructing traffic. These trucks going out there, (unclear), stuff like that, so that sort –
MS. O'LEARY: And geometrically, right, there are definitely issues with both bridges and approach-ways. That is documented in the EA, as I said, and I think that it said that two bridges can't -- or two trucks can't pass at the same time, that's the difficulty, if they need to, that's what we're trying to fix, and they can't right now, so you're correct only that one at a time, under certain conditions at certain parts of Route 19 across the bridge, that is correct.
MR. MULLIGAN: And cars –
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- a car can't pass a tractor-trailer on the bridge where it approaches, and stuff like that.
MS. O'LEARY: On either?
MR. MULLIGAN: On either, right, right, so that we know. And also, that the greater issue is – the core issues of the bridge, you know, my side of the story is, I want you guys to expect everybody to start digging dirt in the spring of next year.
MS. O'LEARY: Hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: The socio-economic issue of it, or a bridge shut-down, or the -- restricting the weight on the bridges, and all that sort of stuff, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- will be tremendous as far as both communities; and also hindering as far as growth and business growth, and stuff like that, is a great concern if the bridges are allowed to stand as they are.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: As far as 2010, there were 7200 vehicles per day, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- and 2012, there were 10,000 vehicles per day, and in 2015 -- you want me to correct -- projects 13,000 vehicles a day, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- and that's a tremendous increase in vehicle traffic. We don't know what the break-out is as far as trucks and stuff like that.
MS. O'LEARY: Right.
MR. MULLIGAN: On the -- the bigger problem again is the condition of the bridges. I think it is grossly-inaccurate in your report and also the DOT. I see tremendous bridge-type issues on the bridge. There's tremendous member of bending and gusset-bending and gusset-weakening, and the – the side -- the thing that's in the gusset is half-an-inch, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- and there's another half-inch or less on the outside, so how can New Hampshire even consider construction and integrity of the gusset? These bridges, as you know, are critical -- are both critical, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- both (unclear), or both critical, or both (unclear), whatever it is.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: A gusset goes and the whole bridge goes in the drink. So we have the footing (phonetic) problems, the Brattleboro west side bridge, that whole -- additions, the dirt, and everything, is all shifting.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: And there's gusset movement and bending and stuff like that.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: And indicates that there's been movement of that side of the bridge, and stuff like that. But everybody's playing, you know, let's make believe, this is the way it is, and nobody wants to go down there and really look at that bridge –
MS. O'LEARY: So you feel that we over --even though we're saying it's structurally-obsolete and functionally-obsolete, you're feeling that we're over-estimating the safety of the bridge is your comment.
MS. MULLIGAN: By many magnitudes.
MS. O'LEARY: Okay.
MR. MULLIGAN: And -- and like I said, when this issue of all these members meeting, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- all these super-structure members being bended, tremendous damage, tremendous bending of these members, and stuff like that, would that be critical, a bridge like that -- one of those things would go and the whole bridge could go in. As long as the -- they indicated with the footings and the huge truss knuckles underneath the bridge, there's a tremendous amount of wastage (phonetic) on those knuckles and bolts that hold the trusses together, and stuff like that, along that. So you have the members that are bent and huge areas of these trusses -- well, not huge, --
Ms. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- let's say, the huge trusses, themselves, are bent and will be opened up, and stuff, along with all that stuff underneath it. How do we know that New Hampshire DOT really understands these two interactions together, how do we really know that these bridges are going to last for another 50 years? Because the way it's going now, New Hampshire isn't going to change their politics, and -- and they're starving their transportation budgets, right, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- stagnation and starving for the last 30 years. They can't pass -- you know, that bridge is unsafe, they can't pass it, to shut it down if it's unsafe, right? And so the gap, the gap of these two things, you know, these New Hampshire officials don't have the courage, they'll face tremendous political outcome if they had to shut that bridge down. And so -- and so the gap, the gap, between these two things, these two impossibilities, is they falsify documents.
MS. O'LEARY: Well, I certainly can't speak to that, and I can tell you that we don't have any falsified documents in here, and unfortunately I can't speak to the New Hampshire budget, either, but bridges are rated on an engineering scale that's used across the country for safety. And so they did score low in the 40s, definitely, which is why they're in line to be fixed, but it's not made-up reasons, there's definitely -- there's criterias, and there's -- specific things get checked on every bridge, and so that has been done, and that's why we have the numbers in the 40s.
MR. MULLIGAN: All I say -- one more thing –
MS. O'LEARY: Yeah.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- is that that's a near collapse, we're going to break apart, where that bridge is so fragile, there's so many degraded parts, the super-structure underneath the bridge. The New Hampshire -- the DOT, they come with these fancy words about engineering, and stuff, and degrees, and Master's Degrees and Ph.Ds, and you can -- you can baloney the people, and stuff, with, you know, the institutional stuff with the engineers and educators, and stuff like that, and at the end of the day, you're not asking proof of these guys, they're just throwing you -- they're just throwing you trash and words, and stuff like that, and they're not showing you any of the events that are really going on, and stuff. And so just by throwing out (unclear) the professional class, and –
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- and you don't have to have (unclear) from us, we'll just -- we'll go on our statute and our sense of professionalism. A guy like me, they don't ask -- they ask like what's your proof, what's your proof that that bridge is going to go down, and stuff like -- they ask me triplicate proof, they simply -- you know, they don't trust me. The professional class, they -- they trust them to be infinite, you know, as far as that, so – and there you go.
MS. O'LEARY: All right, well, thank you for your comments.
MR. MULLIGAN: Thank you.
***MR. MULLIGAN: There -- my friends in Hinsdale are wondering why I'm not in jail tonight, and maybe I should be. It's associated with the walkway, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- the walkway's been in terrible condition.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: The State has known that the walkway, they have loose boards on the walkway. And I've seen a (unclear) from Brattleboro, they go to the convenience store, and there's two or three people with wheelchairs that uses that walkway. It's unavailable in the wintertime because nobody wants to snow-blow it.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: A lot of fear that the bridges would collapse if there's a lot of heavy vehicles, or machines, and stuff like that. And so they've had a recent inspection. The bridge, they had actually two inspections, last fall and this spring, and stuff, and -- and a thorough inspection, more or less, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR.MULLIGAN: -- but they didn't catch the bridge walkway. They didn't catch all the dangerous boards that were loose, and, you know, as you're --you go with a bicycle, and you go lap-lap-lap-lap-lap, there are loose boards, and I'm the expert at knowing something in boards in Hinsdale because I threw a bunch of them in the river yesterday. And so the thing is, really the thing is, is that you can't trust the State, you cannot trust the State to do an inspection. You can -- they're too politically-controlled, and stuff like that. That the walkway is a metaphor for how the New Hampshire DOT handles oversight and inspections, and it's like I said, there's a prime example that they couldn't take that -- I was on there this spring with the inspectors, the bridge inspectors, and talking to them, and stuff like that. I explained to them how dangerous these boards are and how the hundreds of thousands of people -- and that's what I'm saying, hundreds of thousands of people who have gone past me, and who I've submitted, and who I've thrown kisses at and -- by the way, females and males, and an assortment of antics, --
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- and stuff like that, how, you know, how dangerous it is, the conditions are dangerous.
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: What's more dangerous with the State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation, they cannot fill out paperwork accurately. They -- the bridgeway -- the walkway, and stuff like that, which I handle myself by throwing boards over, and made it impassable, and they had a, you know, a -- they couldn't come down on their own, fix it right, they have a bridge (unclear) do the work that the New Hampshire Department of Transportation should have done, and stuff. And so, you know, you watch a movie, you see these movies where there's been terrible bridge accidents, right? –
MS. O'LEARY: Hm-hmm.
MR. MULLIGAN: -- and in all of them, there's always an angel hanging around the bridge before the collapse, I'm that bridge angel, thank you.
MS. O'LEARY: Thank you, Mike.
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