MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Old photos of the Interstate 35W bridge show two steel
connecting plates were visibly bent as early as 2003 -- four years before the
span collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people.
Minnesota Department of Transportation officials declined to say when the
state first knew about the bending in the pieces of steel, called gusset plates.
Two photos, part of a report issued earlier this month by the National
Transportation Safety Board, reveal slight bends in gusset plates that hold
beams together at two separate connecting points. The plates are in areas
believed to be among the first points of failure when the span collapsed.
The NTSB's Office of Highway Safety confirmed that the bowing is part of the
investigation into why the bridge collapsed Aug. 1, the Star Tribune newspaper
reported Sunday.
NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker didn't comment on the photos, but has said the
original design for the bridge specified steel for those and other gusset plates
that was too thin.
NTSB spokesman Terry Williams told the Star Tribune the bowing is among "the
many things that we are looking at as part of this investigation."
The newspaper said inspection records make no mention of repairs to the
bending gusset plates.
Williams did not immediately respond to an Associated phone message seeking
comment Sunday. State transportation department spokeswoman Lucy Kender also did
not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages.
The two photos are believed to have been taken by URS Inc., a San Francisco
consulting firm the state hired to examine the bridge from 2003 to 2007.
"URS and the state have both got a lot of explaining to do as far as why
(the bending) was not observed, and if it was observed, why that was not
immediately investigated," James Schwebel, an attorney representing a group of
victims, told the AP on Sunday. "How could it possibly have been missed?"
No lawsuit has been filed, but Schwebel said his engineering experts are
studying the information.
Attorney Phil Sieff, who represents another group of plaintiffs, said the
deformation could have affected how much weight the gusset plate could hold.
Since the bridge's construction during the 1960s, the state highway
department had increased weight on the bridge by adding a layer of concrete to
the deck in 1977 and by installing concrete barriers in 1998. And the NTSB said
last week that, at the time of the collapse, more than 191 tons of construction
material had been piled over the bridge's weakest areas.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|