When Delaware officials ordered the immediate shutdown of a bridge on Interstate 495 because its tilting columns presented a potential threat to drivers, correspondent Randall Chase and Mid-Atlantic News Editor Amanda Kell knew they had a major story on their hands. The route, which parallels busy I-95 between Philadelphia and Baltimore, was closed because columns supporting a bridge had tilted dramatically and an estimated 90,000 drivers a day were being diverted onto the busier highway.
Chase and Kell, working in close concert with staff on the South Regional Desk, produced a week of insightful coverage that pushed authorities to justify their response to the crisis, pressed them to re-examine how the state inspects its infrastructure and beat the competition at the same time. The key to AP’s aggressive coverage across text, photo and video formats and its drumbeat of scoops was the stable of sources that Chase has accrued during his 13 years of coverage for AP in Delaware.
By often working late into each night and by arranging interviews with officials in advance of scheduled news conferences, Chase ensured AP was first to name the contractor responsible for dumping a massive pile of dirt under the bridge, which officials were blaming for the tilting columns. After days of pressing officials for their plans, Chase also broke the news that all bridges in Delaware would be inspected by the state and that Delaware will add examinations of the ground under bridges to its future inspections. His extensive interview with the engineer who discovered the tilting columns also led to a story that questioned the urgency of the state’s response and of its own official timeline, which until that point said the transportation department had been warned of the issue on a Friday, when in fact it had been warned a day earlier. AP also was first with an acknowledgment from the state transportation agency chief that his department could have moved more quickly to examine the bridge after the engineer contacted officials.
Chase’s work landed in outlets including MSN and The Philadelphia Inquirer and AP was credited by The Washington Post, NPR and Tribune Co.
For aggressive coverage and working sources on a major story in his state, Randall Chase wins this week’s $300 Best of the States prize.
