Multiple Reports, Video Could Shave Months Off Investigation of Fatal Minnesota Bridge Collapse
A surveillance video, failure analysis software program and construction and inspection records could save months off the National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the fatal Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minnesota. However, Mark Rosenker, NTSB board chairman, added it will take a year to analyze the Aug. 1 collapse that killed at least four people. "We will not rule out anything," he said Thursday evening. "What we begin to do is rule things in."
The Minnesota police department gave NTSB a surveillance video of the steel truss bridge collapse. A Federal Highways Administration official gave NTSB a copy of the failure analysis software he used for his dissertation at the University of Minnesota that resulted in a 2001 report analyzing fatigue cracking on the bridge. The report concluded that "fatigue cracking of the deck truss is not likely, which means hat the bridge should not have any problems with fatigue cracking in the foreseeable future."