Severe storms are rolling through central Minnesota including the Twin Cities

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

(AP) - Investigators have a "working theory" that
a poorly designed gusset plate and excessive weight on the
Interstate 35W bridge led to the bridge's fatal collapse on Aug. 1,
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters says.

      Peters' remarks, made Thursday during a formal address to the
White House Transportation Legislative Leaders Summit in
Washington, D.C., mirrored statements she made in August, a week
after the Minneapolis bridge collapse.

      The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating
the collapse, has said it will be at least a year before a formal
finding is available.

      NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson acknowledged the board is looking
at design issues and the gusset plates, which connected steel
beams, as well as the weight of construction materials and
equipment on the bridge, among other factors.

      "We're also looking at the maintenance and repair history.
We're looking at the de-icing fluids - any role they may have
played. We basically haven't ruled anything out yet," Knudson
said.


      State Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, who chairs the Minnesota
Senate Transportation Committee, said Peters told the Washington
gathering that he attended that "a finding of fault was not going
to be lack of inspection or lack of maintenance" by state
officials.

      "I think it taints the findings," he said.

      A spokesman for Peters, Brian Turmail, said the NTSB "would
want to look into whether lack of maintenance was a factor in the
collapse of the bridge."

      But Turmail added that "the working theory at the NTSB is that
it is not a lack of inspections, but a design flaw and weight."

      A design flaw would give administration critics less of an
opening to hold current officials at the Minnesota Department of
Transportation or Gov. Tim Pawlenty responsible for the collapse,
which killed 13 people and injured more than 100.

      Construction of a replacement bridge began Thursday.
      

Gallery

Feds send more money for new 35W bridge

9/11 investigator  in Minneapolis to find cause of bridge collapse

NTSB to remain on bridge scene another month

Three investigations search for cause of I-35W bridge collapse

Investigators have a "working theory" that
a poorly designed gusset plate and excessive weight on the
Interstate 35W bridge led to the bridge's fatal collapse on Aug. 1,
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters says.

'Working theory' blames design, weight for I-35W bridge collapse

Go Deeper.

Like this?