Design flaw, not maintenance caused bridge collapse

AP/Houston Chronicle:

A design error led to undersized gusset plates used in the Interstate 35-W bridge in Minneapolis, which collapsed last year, killing 13 people and injuring 100, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.

The agency stopped short of saying the gusset plates caused the collapse.

NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said the gusset plates, which connected steel beams, were roughly half the thickness they should have been. Investigators found 16 fractured gusset plates from the bridge's center span, he said.

Rosenker said the agency's investigation found no evidence that cracking, corrosion or other wear "played any role in the collapse of the bridge." They also found no flaws in the steel and concrete material used in the bridge.

The Minneapolis bridge was a steel-deck truss bridge that opened in 1967. Rosenker said it wasn't clear how the design flaw made it into the bridge because investigators couldn't find the design calculations.

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If they did stop short of saying the gusset plates caused the collapse is wasn't by much. Recall that when the bridge first collapsed the ambulance chasers of the Democrat party blamed the Bush administration for failure to spend more on infrastructure maintenance. Now there is proof that the embedded failure came during a Democrat administration 40 years ago. Never mind. It was just another example of Democrats trying to politicize tragedy and use it as an excuse to push their agenda. It is enough to make you think that Democrats are the cynical party.