COBB COUNTY - Sixteen bridges across Cobb County sustained extensive damage this week because of the recent downpours and subsequent flooding.

At the peak of the water's damage, 230 roads were closed to traffic, many because of potentially dangerous bridges along the roads that were forced to withstand enormous pressure. As of Wednesday night, about 40 roads remained closed.

Cobb DOT Director David Montanye said that the bridge that was hit the hardest was the bridge over Allatoona Creek on Burnt Hickory Road at Acworth Due West and Old Mountain Road.

"We found that there was a lack of support and that some definite repairs needed to be made," Montanye said. "Bridges are on a structure of approach slab, and sometimes with heavy water volume such as Monday's, it will wash out the subgrade support, which is what happened here."

One of the county's most historic bridges, the Concord Covered Bridge in Smyrna, suffered no damage.

Cobb spokesman Robert Quigley said bridge inspections occurred throughout Wednesday.

"We team up a (Department of Transportation) inspector with a private sector structural engineer to inspect each bridge's surface, supports and the underside of the bridge," Quigley said. "Inspections occur as soon as the surrounding water level drops enough to see the bridge, and forecasts of rain have no bearing on when the bridges are inspected."

Montanye said there will likely be four inspectors out today examining the bridges, and they are all structural engineers from private companies. The county hopes to have completed all inspections by the end of the day Friday.

Cobb County has a standing contract with a team of firms that are paid hourly rates to conduct the inspections, according to the Cobb DOT director.

"We have roughly 220 bridges across the county, and those bridges are inspected every two years," Montanye said. "From those inspections, we'll perform whatever required maintenance we find is needed. For probably 15 years, we've been able to use SPLOST money to fund these repairs, so our bridges are in great shape. I'm not surprised that we didn't have any bridges to actually collapse, despite the massive amounts of flooding that occurred."

No casualties were reported because of damaged bridges or flooding.