Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. John L Mica (R-FL), the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Republican Leader, today commended the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) efforts to objectively determine the cause of the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota last year and not rely on premature conclusions that the collapse was an issue of aging infrastructure.
The NTSB concluded a two-day meeting focusing on its report on the August 1, 2007 bridge failure. The Board determined that a design flaw together with the staging of 287 tons of construction material on the bridge likely lead to the collapse of the bridge into the Mississippi River.
NTSB investigators found that when the bridge was built over 40 years ago the bridge designers likely did not correctly calculate the necessary size of steel gusset plates that connected the steel beams supporting the bridge to the bridge deck.
“The collapse of the I-35W bridge last summer was a terrible shock to the nation, and we continue to feel the loss of the victims of that tragedy,” Mica said. “I appreciate the work of the NTSB during this critical investigation, and the Board’s work will help to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
“There are important lessons to be learned from the I-35W bridge collapse. The collapse appears to be the result of a design flaw, rather than the bridge’s age, however, this does not negate the need to invest in our nation’s transportation infrastructure.
“In the next surface transportation reauthorization measure, we need to update the federal inspection standards for highway bridges and make sure that states have the resources they need to improve their transportation infrastructure.” The current five-year surface transportation law expires September 30, 2009.
“One thing we can learn from this unfortunate disaster is that expediting major transportation and infrastructure projects is possible,” Mica continued.
“The I-35W bridge replacement was contracted to be designed and completed in just 437 days. Normally, a project of this magnitude takes seven to eight years to complete, simply because of the burdensome bureaucratic process in place.
“Adopting a 437-Day Plan for similar projects would cut red tape, lower costs dramatically, and allow us to use our limited resources to make more effective investments in America’s infrastructure,” Mica said.
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the United States needs a $1.6 trillion investment over five years to improve the condition of the nation’s infrastructure. Failing to improve bridges, highways, ports, aviation infrastructure, and transit and rail systems will cause further deterioration of the nation’s transportation network, degrade transportation safety, and hamper U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.
“The I-35W replacement can serve as a model for projects across the nation,” Mica added. “There’s no reason we can’t undertake comparable initiatives in a safe and expedited fashion.
“I hope we can learn from these events to prevent another tragedy like this from happening and to establish an improved process for rebuilding America’s infrastructure,” Mica concluded.
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