A Bridge to a New School Redux

Do you remember the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota? I blogged about it way back on August 3, and it directly addressed the issues of age, lack of adequate maintenance, and lack of follow-up.

Apparently, the final reports are being assembled and written. A "design flaw" is the apparent conclusion of the report.

The official, who was briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board, said that investigators found a design flaw in the bridge's gusset plates, which are the steel plates that tie steel beams together.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is expected to issue an advisory later Tuesday urging states to check the gusset plates when modifications are made to a bridge -- such as changes to the weight of the bridge or adding a guardrail, said a federal official with knowledge of the plans.

Currently, such calculations are done for the entire bridge, but not down to the gusset plates, the official said. [Ed Note: What is waiting inside the Six Million Dollar Shell? This board's need for speed is a recipe for further disaster.]

Last August, Peters advised states to consider the additional stress placed on bridges during construction projects. An 18-person crew was working on the bridge when it collapsed.

Nearly three months later, Peters told a gathering in Washington of a "working theory" of a poorly designed gusset plate and a heavy load of construction materials.

The bridge was deemed "structurally deficient" by the federal government as far back as 1990.

Do you see any other parallels here?