After a huge uptick in seismic activity, Oklahoma will develop its own guidelines to inspect highways and bridges after earthquakes.
The state’s transportation commission decided this week now is the time to figure out how to respond after an earthquake. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation currently doesn’t have its own guidelines for inspecting bridges and highways after an earthquake and is loosely following California's.
"But we want some formal ones with specific information about Oklahoma, and these earthquakes seem to be here for awhile, so we want to be prepared," said ODOT spokeswoman Terri Angier.
ODOT will work with a consultant over the next two years. Until then, it will continue inspecting infrastructure within a 5 mile radius of earthquakes magnitude 4.0 or larger. The agency used to inspect bridges after earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 or even 3.0 in some cases.
Crews have found damage only once. That was in 2011 after a 5.6 magnitude quake in Prague.
"That caused some damage to U.S. 62, and even that wasn't to the actual bridge, it was to the approaches, the roadway part next to the bridge," Angier said. "That cost the department about $1,000 to repair."
