As John Nathan Dunaway approaches his ten year anniversary as an employee of the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), he says when you love your job, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
Dunaway is a Transportation Technologist and the Chief Bridge Inspector for ALDOT’s Southeast Region Troy Area.
Dunaway began his career with ALDOT in construction in 2015, but soon began to work for the bridge crew and rose the ranks to Chief Bridge Inspector last spring.
The day-to-day job duties of a bridge inspector vary from entering data into a complex computer program to cutting vegetation with a bush axe to gain access to a bridge culvert for inspection.
A bridge inspector has daily encounters with snakes, bats, alligators, bees, wasps, and many other creatures that make their home in our bridge structures.
Today, Dunaway and his crew are responsible for the safety inspection of 410 state owned bridges and 18 city owned bridges located within the Troy area.
“We inspect bridges according to the standards set by the State of Alabama and the federal government in order to ensure the safety of the public,” said Dunaway.
The bridge crew inspects bridges in nine counties including Crenshaw, Covington, Pike, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Barbour, Henry, and Houston.
“I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction in knowing that each bridge is inspected correctly and is in good shape for the traveling public,” said Dunaway.
The bridge crew is currently inspecting R.B. Russell Bridge on US-82 in Eufaula over the Chattahoochee River, where they will use an under bridge inspection unit to perform a Non-Redundant Steel Tension Member (NSTM) bridge inspection.
During the inspection, Dunaway uses the under bridge inspection unit, also called a Snooper Truck, to gain access to the steel superstructure for a “hands-on inspection” for each bridge element.
Through all of the mud and the muck that Dunaway and the bridge crew often encounter when inspecting bridges, they are committed to going above and beyond their job duties.
Dunaway and the bridge crew of ALDOT’s Southeast Region Troy Area play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the bridges that thousands of people travel over daily.
Story written by ALDOT Southeast Region Communication intern Chloe Meadows
