A Minnesota transportation official says half of the bridges rated deficient following the August 2007 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis will be repaired or replaced by the end of this construction season.
The head of the Department of Transportation bridge inspections, Nancy Daubenberger, says about 60 of the 120 deficient bridges will be done. She says about $2 billion was set aside to fund the bridge projects.
Thirteen people died and 145 others were injured in the collapse of the interstate bridge on Aug. 1, 2007. The following year, lawmakers approved funding for repairing or replacing the deficient bridges in Minnesota.
Minnesota Public Radio News says following the collapse, the federal government ordered more frequent bridge inspections, requiring the structures to be inspected every two years instead of four.
As of July 2010, nearly three years after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, 12 percent of Minnesota bridges were deficient, the Federal Highway Adminstration determined. The state has around 13,000 bridges.
Shortly after the incident, federal officials focused on design flaws and the extra weight of construction equipment as contributing to the bridge collapse. The National Transportation Safety Board said that it found issues with the collapsed bridge’s gusset plates — the steel plates that tie steel beams together.
In May 2008, the Minnesota legislature approved a $38 million compensation package for victims of the I-35W bridge collapse.
Topics Minnesota
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