Woman on Claytor Lake hurt by debris from I-81 bridge

A woman riding on a personal watercraft on Claytor Lake on Saturday was injured when debris fell from a bridge on Interstate 81 and struck her in the head and shoulder.

The incident has prompted unscheduled inspections of the bridge, located over the Peak Creek area of the lake in Pulaski County.

Officers responded Saturday afternoon after receiving a call that a woman had been injured, said Troy Phillips, a senior conservation police officer with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was a passenger on a personal watercraft that was traveling at a slow rate of speed under the bridge on I-81 south near mile marker 96, Phillips said.

The woman was flown to a hospital in Roanoke but has since been released, Phillips said. He said he was unsure of the extent of her injuries.

Phillips said he does not know the size of the debris that fell from the bridge, and he declined to specify what material had fallen.

A man who was driving the watercraft was not injured.

Phillips did not release any additional information on the man or the woman but said they are both Virginia residents.

The Virginia Department of Transportation was contacted within minutes after conservation police officers arrived on the scene, Phillips said.

Crews inspected the bridge Tuesday using a snooper truck, which is similar to a bucket truck with a long arm that extends out and under the bridge, giving workers better access to the structure. Additional personnel completed a visual inspection from a boat below the bridge, looking for loose material.

Tuesday’s inspection focused on the area of the bridge from which the debris is believed to have fallen, VDOT spokesman Jason Bond said. A preliminary visual inspection Saturday night and Monday did not reveal any safety concerns, but crews plan to conduct a full inspection of the bridge next week, Bond said.

Bridges are generally examined every two years and rated on a 0 to 9 scale, with 9 being the best, according to VDOT spokeswoman Jamie Smith.

Past bridge inspection reports rated the bridge over Peak Creek at a 5, which Smith said is a good rating. Smith said the bridge’s deck (the driving surface), the superstructure (supports immediately beneath the driving surface) and the substructure (foundation and supporting posts and piers) are all listed in that condition.

“It’s not a structurally deficient bridge,” Smith said, adding that scores decrease from a 9 based on various factors, including age of the bridge and wear and tear.

A structurally deficient bridge’s deck, superstructure or substructure are rated in condition 4 or less, according to VDOT’s website. But the fact that a bridge is labeled “structurally deficient” does not imply that it is likely to collapse or is unsafe. Those bridges typically require maintenance, repairs or replacements and often have posted vehicle weight limits.

The bridge over Peak Creek, which was built in 1960 and is 372 feet long, was scheduled to be inspected in October. Bond said that inspection has been rescheduled for next week.

As part of routine maintenance, concrete deck patching was performed on the bridge in 2009, and the structural steel was painted in 2012. There was no active work zone on I-81 near the bridge at the time of the incident.

Smith said recent heavy rains have increased the water levels beneath the Peak Creek bridge, making it easier for boaters to access that location.

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