[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 17, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF CALTRANS STRUCTURE MAINTENANCE & 
                             INVESTIGATIONS

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                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 17, 2018

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Office of Structure 
Maintenance & Investigations upon the occasion of its 90th anniversary 
since its creation.
  The Office of Structure Maintenance & Investigations engineers and 
structural technicians perform ongoing inspection of more than 24,000 
state highway and locally owned bridges within the boundaries of the 
Golden State. They ensure the safety of the traveling public and to 
protect the public's multi-billion dollar investment in its bridge 
inventory; and
  Since its creation in 1927 California's bridge inspection unit has 
completed nearly 770,000 routine bridge inspections, and thousands of 
special steel, underwater, hydraulic, sign structure and tunnel 
inspections. The bridge inspection program has become the model for 
other bridge departments in the United States and around the world.
  Structure Maintenance & Investigations, based on the findings of its 
inspections, has worked with its District Maintenance counterparts to 
complete hundreds of millions of repairs to ensure the safety and 
structural integrity of each public agency bridge in California. The 
dedicated personnel of Structure Maintenance & Investigations has 
responded over its nine decades of service to every emergency impacting 
the state's bridge inventory, including the 1989 Loma Prieta and 2011 
Napa earthquakes.
  Mr. Speaker, Caltrans Office of Structure Maintenance & 
Investigations and its employees have kept California's highways and 
bridges safe. It is therefore fitting and proper that we honor the 
Office and employees past and present today.

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