Minnesota bridge was weakened by a heavy load before it collapsed, report says

by Amy Judd | March 18, 2008 at 08:56 am

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The bridge in Minnesota that collapsed and killed 13 people last August had 191 tons of construction material piled over its weakest point shortly before it plunged into the Mississippi River below, stated in a report that was released yesterday.

The piles of rock and sand, to be used in resurfacing the bridge, were placed over steel gusset plates, connectors joining bridge beams, that were thinner than they should have been, the National Transportation Safety Board said in an update on its investigation Monday.

The August 1 collapse near downtown Minneapolis killed 13 people and injured 145. The NTSB said it expects to produce its final report on the cause of the collapse by the end of the year.

The NTSB had previously cited the too-thin gusset plates and construction project weights as factors in the collapse, but Monday's update included drawings and tables that pinpointed the locations of those heavy loads on the structure.