Manitoba's Auditor General is raising the red flag on bridge inspections.
Norm Ricard's latest report found weaknesses in how Manitoba's Department of Infrastructure manages bridges.
The report found 616 bridges weren't inspected at all. Another 288 were not being inspected because the Department of Infrastructure considered other government departments to be responsible for them.
The Office of the Auditor General also looked at a further sample of 51 bridges from 2008-2013 to find out if they were being inspected in a timely manner.
Ricard said the department failed to do a Level 1 inspection on half of those bridges within the required timeframe.
Level 1 inspections are considered general inspections and are required to be done once annually in the spring after water levels recede.
Ricard said the department also lags behind in Level 2 inspections, which are more detailed and have to be done every two to six years depending on the type of structure, its size and location.
Ricard said inspections were a year late on 8 per cent of bridges examined for the report.
"I think Manitobans should be somewhat concerned that bridges aren't being inspected as frequently as they should be," said Ricard.
The department manages about 3,000 bridges and large culverts.
The report looked at provincial bridges, not municipal or city bridges.
