Quote:
Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue
The Americans with many many interstates running from coast to coast make us jealous.  ( In return though, their infrastructure’s crumbling. I-35 Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis came to mind.  ) |
"The National Transportation Safety Board determined that it was a design flaw, and not deferred maintenance, neglect, or other problems, that caused the 35W bridge to collapse. Gusset plates that hold the bridge's huge steel beams together were only half as thick as they should have been. The NTSB also found that nearly 300 tons of construction equipment and materials stockpiled on the bridge deck for the ongoing repair work contributed to the collapse by further stressing the crucial gusset plate that failed.
Daubenberger says the state immediately inspected gusset plates on every single truss bridge in the state to ensure that they were safe, and within months of the collapse, the Minnesota state legislature raised the gas tax and funded a $2.5 billion bridge improvement program.
"The bill established a program to have all structurally deficient bridges and fracture critical bridges repaired or replaced within 10 years, so by June 30, 2018," says Daubenberger.
The I-35W bridge was rebuilt within 14 months.
Daubenberger says 172 Minnesota bridges were identified as structurally deficient or fracture critical. About 35 of them were determined to need only routine, preventative maintenance. About 120 of them have been repaired or replaced, while the 18 remaining bridges are either under construction now and/or are on track to be repaired or replaced before next summer's deadline."
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540669701/10-years-after-bridge-collapse-america-is-still-crumbling
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