Back to the Minnesota Bridge Collapse

[malaise]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22663216/
<snip>
Undersized gusset plates in the Interstate 35-W bridge in Minneapolis were “the critical factor” in the bridge collapse last year that killed 13 people and injured 100, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.

Chairman Mark Rosenker said the plates, which connected steel beams, were roughly half the thickness they should have been because of a design error. Investigators found 16 fractured gusset plates from the bridge’s center span, he said.

The Minneapolis bridge was a steel-deck truss bridge that opened in 1967. Rosenker said it wasn’t clear how the design flaw made it into the bridge because investigators couldn’t find the design calculations.

Once they made it into the completed bridge, he said, there was little chance they would be noticed by inspectors.

There are about 465 other steel-deck truss bridges around the country. Rosenker said the safety board had no evidence that the deficiencies in the Minneapolis bridge design “are widespread or go beyond this bridge.”
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And they know this how?? Move along DUers -nothing to worry about until rhe next bridge collapses.

[shraby]

1. I guess that's a tad better excuse than

pigeon droppings, but it took them a while to figure one out.

[uppityperson]

2. k&r, thanks for the update.

[malaise]

3. Thanks for not ignoring this awful disaster n/t

[superkia]

4. People die because of a design error and our great gooberment...

wants to raise the gas tax .40 spread out over 5 years to spend on bridges like the one in Minneapolis? We pay gas taxes so our highways and bridges are taken care of, they allow our highways and bridges to deteriorate and now innocent people die from a design error and their answer is tax us more on the item that we have accepted at whatever price.

If this country were our business and these fools were running it, shouldn't we have fired them by now? Damn brainwashing television!

[mzmolly]

5. And isn't it odd that numerous, regular inspections missed the flaw

year after year after year? Huh? Sorry, I smell B.S.

[malaise]

6. And you are not alone n/t

[malaise]

7. Not that clearcut: Minnesota will review 59 bridges in wake of report

Now we're talking.
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=492694
<snip>

In the wake of the NTSB report which indicated that faulty gusset plates likely caused the collapse of the 35W bridge, Minnesota will review 36 local, and 23 trunk highway bridges, which have similar designs.

The NTSB says a design flaw left 16 gusset plates, just one half inch thick, in critical spots on the 35W bridge. Those plates should have been a full inch thick.

Minnesota is now reviewing the additional bridges with truss designs to make sure their current load ratings fit with the gusset design.

Officials hope to complete the state reviews by June at a cost of $500,000.
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Bravo Minnesota.

[uppityperson]

8. How are they reviewing them? Looking at paper specs or actually

digging into the bridge?

I've been over that bridge many times. My niece/nephew were over shortly before collapse. I go over other bridges regularly. Damn anyone who cuts back for personal profit (not saying this was, but just damn them that do)