The Mathews Bridge is a truss bridge located in Jacksonville, FL.  The bridge allows motorists to travel across the St. John’s River to and from downtown Jacksonville.   The Mathews Bridge is fabricated from bare metal grating that can often become slippery.  In recent years, motorists have complained about the bare metal grating bridge becoming extremely dangerous during inclement weather.  In one instance, a woman was killed when her vehicle hit slippery bare metal grating on the bridge causing it to drive off the bridge and into the St. John’s River.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is taking action to ensure that accidents such as this do not happen again.  To resolve the slippery bare grating bridge issues quickly, the DOT invested in machines that would hammer tiny indents into the grating to add skid resistance until a more permanent solution for the slippery bridge is decided on.

A material that could provide a more permanent solution is slip resistant steel floor grating.  Slip resistant steel floor grating can provide years of slip resistance on the bridge.  Slip resistant steel floor grating such as SLIPNOT slip resistant floor grating is extremely abrasive and can remain slip resistant against oil and lubricants from vehicles.  Slip resistant floor grating will also remain slip resistant even when installed in a high volume traffic area such as the Mathews Bridge.

Providing motorists with a permanent slip resistant solution will help to ensure their safety when utilizing the Mathews Bridge and help to avoid future accidents on the bridge.

Bauerlein, David. “State DOT to Make a Quick Fix on Slippery Mathew’s Grating”. The Florida Times Union.  http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/091604/met_16656040.shtml.