Source:
Associated Presshttp://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/eb53dde0840c00ebbf77ef2163bdd1f9.htm">Gov't: Design Flaw in Bridge CollapseNTSB Finds Design Flaw Caused Minneapolis
Bridge CollapseJanuary 15, 2008: 02:41 PM EST
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - 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.
"It is the undersizing of the design which we believe is
the critical factor here. It is the critical factor that
began the process of this collapse. That's what failed,"
Rosenker 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.
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