What Inspectors Saw Before Bridge Collapse

Report Says Just Half Of Key Part Of Minneapolis-St. Paul Span Was Thoroughly Checked

(AP)  The Minnesota Department of Transportation hired but decided not to use a consultant to help it look for flaws in the Interstate 35W bridge just three months before the span collapsed, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday.

In what turned out to be the bridge's final inspection, the newspaper reported, MnDOT staff members used visual and ultrasonic methods in May to go over just over half of one critical section of the bridge. But MnDOT then suspended the inspection, planning to resume it this fall after a resurfacing job on the bridge was finished.

The bridge collapsed Aug. 1, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100.

The Star Tribune said the unfinished inspection raised questions about why MnDOT didn't complete the inspection in the spring or use its consultant, URS, after awarding it a contract for that purpose.

"The inspectors who were going through it did not have need for assistance," MnDOT chief bridge engineer Dan Dorgan told the newspaper in an interview. "I talked to the inspectors sometime after May. Pretty brief. 'Did you find any problems?' And the answer was no."

The newspaper also reported that the initial focus of the special inspection was going to be on the south end of the bridge, the part believed to have collapsed first, but MnDOT inspectors instead started on the north end. MnDOT said the switch was made for logistical convenience.

MnDOT defended its handling of the inspection and said it had not revealed any major problems.

Ronald Low, a spokesman for URS, told the newspaper the company would not comment on any aspect of the inspection and referred all questions to MnDOT.

"The bridge inspection is one of the many things that we're looking at as part of this investigation," said Terry Williams, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the main investigation into the collapse. "We're still in the early stages."

MnDOT decided to do a special inspection of the bridge after an extensive study completed in January by URS of crucial steel beams considered susceptible to cracking. MnDOT opted for the inspection after deciding against reinforcing the 40-year-old bridge.

Less than a month after signing a contract to enlist URS's help with the inspection, MnDOT inspected segments of the bridge May 1-4 without help from the consulting firm and never paid URS any of the $21,563 that was available.

The contract called for URS to observe inspection procedures and the progress of inspections, and to review all inspection reports, among other things.

A written statement to the Star Tribune from MnDOT spokeswoman Lucy Kender said: "Although we had a contract for URS to participate in the inspections in May 2007 if needed, we did not have a need to utilize them. ... Our staff had the necessary equipment and training to perform the inspections ... no issues were found during the inspections that required URS services."

Asked by the newspaper why MnDOT couldn't inspect the entire bridge in May, Kender replied that the agency had intended to inspect only some of the critical bridge elements in May, then review the inspection procedure in late August before completing the task in the fall. She said URS would have participated in the August review of the May inspections.