• Home
• About Amy
• Serving Minnesotans
• About Minnesota
• Issues/ Legislation
• Media Center
• Contact Amy
• FAQ

News Releases

Klobuchar Pushes NTSB to Hold Public Hearing on 35W Bridge Collapse

Says new photographs raise troubling questions

March 25, 2008

Washington, D.C.  – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar urged National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Mark Rosenker to hold a public hearing as part of the board’s investigation of last summer’s collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. Klobuchar said four-year old photographs released by the board in recent days have increased demands for a transparent investigation and undermined public confidence in bridges of the same design. 

“A bridge in America should not just fall down,” Klobuchar said. “Now we have photographic evidence that the bridge design was producing a safety hazard fully four years before the I-35W bridge collapsed. A detailed public hearing will serve to produce more information on the I-35W bridge collapse and give the public a forum in which to understand what can be done to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.  A public hearing will help to restore public confidence that all safety issues have been considered.  For that reason, I urge you to reconsider your decision and hold a public hearing.”

Klobuchar said that the newly released photos of the I-35W bridge, showing gusset plate damage as early as 2003,  as well as the recent closure of the bridge on Minnesota State Highway 23 in St. Cloud, Minnesota underscore the need to address these serious questions in a transparent manner, with the “input and understanding of the public.”

Two of the board’s five members had called for a public hearing, but were out-voted.  As board members Higgins and Hersman wrote in their dissent, "This is one of the rare accident investigations the Board has undertaken that has involved the total collapse of a major interstate highway bridge. Given the number of interstate bridges that exist in this country, the age of those bridges, and the use of those bridges, there is a significant need to explore whether this accident is likely to remain rare in the future. 

"We believe we would be abandoning our important duty to educate and reassure the traveling public of an independent, transparent, credible investigation after a tragic accident of national scope,” Higgins and Hersman continued.

The full text of the letter is below:

March 25, 2008

The Honorable Mark V. Rosenker
Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board 490 L' Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20594

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The sudden collapse of the I-35W Bridge on August 1, 2007 resulted in thirteen tragic deaths and 145 injuries.  The tragedy interrupted one of our state's busiest thoroughfares used by over 140,000 vehicles per day, creating an estimated $113,000 a day reduction in the state's economic output.

Given the enormity of this collapse and the resulting understandable concerns of citizens throughout our country about the safety of our bridges and roads,  I believe that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) should use every tool at its disposal to gather complete information to determine not only how this tragedy occurred, but to avoid future failures and reassure the public.   As such, I urge you to reconsider your earlier decision and hold public hearings as part of your investigation.

The bridge collapse presented this country with innumerable questions regarding the condition of our nation’s infrastructure. The newly released photos of the I-35W bridge, showing gusset plate damage as early as 2003, as well as the recent closure of the bridge on Minnesota State Highway 23 in St Cloud, Minnesota, highlight the need to address these serious questions in a transparent manner, with the input and understanding of the public. A detailed public hearing will serve that purpose. 

In the opinion by Vice Chairman Sumwalt, in which you joined, he wrote that a public hearing "would be counterproductive to the timely investigative process. Time is of the essence."  While timeliness is important, it cannot come at the cost of a thorough investigation. As board members Higgins and Hersman wrote in their dissent, "This is one of the rare accident investigations the Board has undertaken that has involved the total collapse of a major interstate highway bridge. Given the number of interstate bridges that exist in this country, the age of those bridges, and the use of those bridges, there is a significant need to explore whether this accident is likely to remain rare in the future."

Given the growing public concern in my state due to the recent revelations about the four-year-old photos as well as the closing of the St. Cloud bridge, I urge you to reconsider your decision not to hold a public hearing.

Sincerely,

/s

Amy Klobuchar

###