Safety Board Faults Design Flaws In Bridge
WASHINGTON — A federal safety board has decided the probable cause of last year’s deadly collapse of a Minneapolis bridge was a design flaw that went unnoticed for 40 years.
The National Transportation Safety Board voted unanimously Friday that the highway bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River because of the failure of steel plates connecting the bridge’s beams. The board said the plates weren’t the required thickness.
They said federal and state officials were also to blame for not catching the problem.
Another factor in the collapse was the added weight of construction materials stockpiled on the bridge and changes made to the bridge over time.
The Aug. 1, 2007, collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge killed 13 people and injured 145.
Previous Stories:
- November 13, 2008: NTSB: Design Errors Factor In Bridge Collapse