About last year's Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse
They found a design flaw and it wasn't news.
From
Associated Press:
Gov't: Design Flaw in Bridge Collapse
Federal investigators have identified a design flaw as the cause of last year's Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people and injured about 100, a congressional official said Tuesday.
The official, who was briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board, said that investigators found a design flaw in the bridge's gusset plates, which are the steel plates that tie steel beams together. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt an update being provided later Tuesday by the NTSB chairman, Mark V. Rosenker.
The findings are consistent with what the NTSB said about a week after the Aug. 1 collapse, in which the bridge plunged into the Mississippi River. At the time, the NTSB said it had found issues with the collapsed bridge's gusset plates, but expected a full investigation to take more than a year.
And this was not a surprise to anyone:
The bridge was deemed "structurally deficient" by the federal government as far back as 1990.
Late last year, President Bush signed a massive spending bill which included $195 million to help replace the bridge. That came on top of the $178.5 million the federal government has already given Minnesota for the project.
So much money and zero work done... I keep thinking about Seattle and its downtown viaduct (route 99) -- what is the government's opinion on that? The structure is old and in need of earthquake and structural remediation. Is it in worse or better condition than the 35W bridge.
Posted by DaveH at January 15, 2008 8:25 PM