Safety board to pinpoint cause of bridge collapse

[November 13, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Transportation safety officials are set to issue a final ruling this week on the cause of the deadly Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people and injured 145.

The ruling is expected near the end of a two-day hearing at which National Transportation Safety Board investigators will discuss what they learned since the Interstate 35W bridge shuddered, then tumbled into the Mississippi River.

The bridge collapse on Aug. 1, 2007, was seen by many as a wake-up call for a nation that had neglected its infrastructure for too long.

Democrats in Minnesota heaped criticism on the state's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty. Democrats in Congress said the accident showed the nation's roads and bridges were crumbling.

An interim report from the National Transportation Safety Board in January points to a design error as the likely culprit for the collapse of the 40-year-old bridge: 16 fractured gusset plates. The plates, components that helped connect steel beams, were designed at only half the required thickness.

At the time, safety board chairman Mark Rosenker called that design error a "critical factor" in the collapse. He also said there was little chance that state bridge inspectors would have noticed undersized gusset plates.

Pawlenty took that as a measure of vindication because the initial focus had been on his administration's program for maintaining bridges

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Rosenker's comments enraged Rep. Jim Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee. Oberstar argued that the early pronouncement commits the safety board to a finding that might not bear out with further investigation.

Following the January report, internal NTSB memos have focused on the gusset plates and the weight of construction materials on the bridge for a resurfacing project at the time of the collapse.

But even if the NTSB excludes other potential causes, such as cracking, corrosion or other wear, pressure will remain on states to ramp up maintenance and inspections.

"Regardless of the final determination on that case, it brought to people's attention the fact that our infrastructure is aging," said Greg Cohen, president of the American Highway Users Alliance, an advocacy group representing a wide range of motorists.

"No state wants to be the next state that this happens to," said Cohen.

During his campaign for the White House, President-elect Barack Obama cited the Minneapolis bridge collapse and called for spending more on the nation's crumbling highways, bridges and tunnels.

In July, the House passed legislation authorizing an additional $1 billion next year to rebuild structurally deficient bridges on the national highway system. The bill would also require states to come up with repair plans for troubled bridges.

The Senate has yet to act on the bill. If no action is taken during a lame-duck session that starts next week, lawmakers would have to start anew on the legislation in January.

[Associated Press; By FREDERIC J. FROMMER]

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