They Knew -- Minnesota Dept of Transportation Talked Openly About The Potential Collapse of The I-35W Bridge

Internal MnDOT documents reviewed by the Star Tribune reveal that last year bridge officials talked openly about the possibility of the bridge collapsing -- and worried that it might have to be condemned.

The documents provide the first look inside MnDOT's decision-making process as engineers weighed benefits and risks, wrestling with options to prevent what they believed was a remote but real possibility of the eight-lane freeway bridge failing.

Their concerns were not generalized, documents show. The San Francisco-based consultant, URS Inc., identified 52 crucial steel box beams deemed most susceptible to cracking. URS also had a specific recommendation that 24 of the 52 members be reinforced while the remainder would be kept on a special watch. Video of the Aug. 1 collapse being examined by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the bridge first falling on the south end over its shoreline pier -- a section of the superstructure where eight suspect beams were specifically tagged for reinforcing.

	Nick Coleman: State officials rolled dice on 35W bridge, and we all lost	The Minneapolis Star Tribune	Wed Aug 22	1
	Wanted: Input from commuters, residents on I-35W issues	TC Daily Planet	Wed Aug 22	4