Questions about bridge collapse point to Gov. Pawlenty’s office

BY ED FELIEN

MnDOT bridge inspectors found no structural flaws in 2005 or 2006, but federal inspectors said the bridge was defective in 2005.

Jeremy Hernandez was one of many heroes Wednesday, Aug. 1, when the 35W bridge collapsed. He was on a bus with children from Waite House, returning from a swimming trip. When the bridge started to collapse and the bus seemed to be ready to fall into the river, at great risk to himself, he opened the back door of the bus and helped every kid off the bus before he saved himself.
There were other stories of people helping disabled drivers out of cars and of the police telling the media that they didn't need any more volunteers. These were moments when you felt proud to be a Minnesotan.

Why did the bridge collapse? Six years ago the University of Minnesota Department of Civil Engineering identified fatigue in the bridge, noting that some of the girders were distorted. They identified fatigue on the main truss and on the floor trusses. They said the bridge might collapse if the trusses gave way.
Department of Transportation (DOT) bridge inspectors found no structural flaws in 2005 or 2006, yet the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory in 2005 said the bridge was defective.

One of the problems with the bridge was its original design. There was no redundancy built into the design, that is, if the trusswork failed there was no safety mechanism in place to prevent disaster.

In a 1997 report, State Legislative Auditor James Nobles said Minnesota was lagging on bridge maintenance, and, because traffic congestion has worsened since then, the State is in worse shape today, according to Nobles.

Governor Pawlenty didn't seem to be concerned about the rapidly deteriorating infrastructure. He ignored the warnings. He appointed his lieutenant governor to head up DOT to save the salary of a top official. And he vetoed funding for highways and bridges so he could give tax breaks to his wealthy campaign contributors.