Editorial: Crop of orange barrels bound to raise eyebrows

There is little doubt more than a few drivers will be scratching their heads when they head for the Blatnik Bridge on Monday morning.

We were doing a little of that ourselves when the news release from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation arrived this week announcing yet another round of bridge inspections.

For the rest of the month expect to see a bumper crop of orange barrels or cones as transportation workers give the Blatnik a good look-see to ensure the public's safety.

We know what you're thinking. We thought it too.

After a couple of months of lane restrictions and weeks of lane closures while work commenced to fortify the gusset plates, we too wondered, "now what?"

Rest assured it's routine.

That's what the folks at WisDOT told us when we called.

The scheduling of the work was done a year ago. It's the bridge inspections that have been done by Minnesota's transportation department since Aug. 1, 2007, that were out of the ordinary.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered the inspections of all the state's bridges in response to the Interstate-35W bridge collapse last year.

What's happening now is ordinary and routine, a cooperation agreement between the two states the bridge serves.

Yes, it may seem silly to do it again so soon, but public safety could depend on it. Findings from the inspections are reported to both agencies.

And we couldn't agree more that it's more than a little inconvenient to have restrictions for a good part of the summer.

However, the inspections need to get done, so be ready for it when you head to the bridge, and slow down for the safety of workers who may be walking on the deck.

After all, they are there to ensure another tragedy like the one that happened in Minneapolis last year isn't repeated here.