Report: Design flaws caused cracks before Florida span fell
Posted Nov 15, 2018 03:44:28 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MIAMI — Federal investigators say design flaws caused cracking in a pedestrian bridge that collapsed near Miami in March.
The National Transportation Safety Board did not blame those errors for the March 15 collapse in the two-page investigative update released Thursday.
Six people died in the collapse. The bridge was meant to link Florida International University with the neighbouring community of Sweetwater.
Experts from the Federal Highway Administration determined the design underestimated the structural load on the north end of the bridge while overestimating the strength of a key structural component.
The report said cracking documented in the bridge in the weeks before the collapse was “consistent with the identified errors.”
The project was supposed to showcase a faster, cheaper and safer method of bridge-building.
The NTSB is expected to finish its investigation next year.
The Associated Press
