Albuquerque Tribune | Jul 2, 2007
WASHINGTON — The White House said on Aug. 2 that an inspection two years ago found structural deficiencies in the highway bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi river in Minneapolis.
The Interstate 35W span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability, White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
According to a federal database, the 40-year-old bridge that collapsed on Aug. 1 had been rated as “structurally deficient” and possibly in need of replacement.
“This doesn’t mean there was a risk of failure, but if an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions,” he said.
The Transportation Department’s inspector general last year criticized the oversight of interstate bridges. The March 2006 report said investigators found incorrect or outdated maximum weight limit calculations and weight limit postings in the National Bridge Inventory and in states’ bridge databases and said the problems could pose safety hazards. The Federal Highway Administration agreed that improvements were needed.
Incorrect load ratings could endanger bridges by allowing heavier vehicles to cross than should, and could affect whether a bridge is properly identified as structurally deficient in the first place, the inspector general said.
The audit didn’t identify any Minnesota bridges or mention the state beyond noting that 3 percent of its bridges were structurally deficient, placing it at the low end among states with bridge problems. However, it said such bridges were crossed by an average of 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles a day in Minnesota, ranking it 13th in daily traffic over deficient bridges.
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