NTSB urged to reopen Interstate 35W bridge probe: Span's designer, victims group believe cause of collapse not fully explained

Nov 07, 2009 (Pioneer Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- JEC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The firm that designed the fateful Interstate 35W bridge has asked the National Transportation Safety Board to reopen its investigation into the Aug. 1, 2007, collapse.

The request by Pasadena, Calif.-based Jacobs Engineering Group was made in a 19-page letter sent within the past few weeks to the NTSB and obtained by the Pioneer Press.

That the firm is asking for such a move is not surprising. A predecessor company, Sverdrup & Parcel, was primarily blamed for the collapse, which killed 13 and injured 145. But the effort is being joined by a consortium of lawyers representing scores of victims of the Minneapolis disaster.

"Most agree now that the NTSB it got wrong," said victims attorney Chris Messerly, citing work by Boston-based engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, which was hired by the victims. "They thought the initial cause was the gusset plate, and everyone knows now it was the frozen bearings."

On Friday, Messerly's group and a separate group of victims announced an undisclosed settlement in litigation over the collapse. As part of that settlement, the state will receive $1 million.

The NTSB did not respond to a request for comment about the request to reopen the investigation.

A steel truss structure, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River was partly supported by large roller bearings set atop piers, which allowed the bridge to flex during hot and cold cycles, relieving tension on the bridge's steel beams and connector plates,

known as gussets.

But according to state inspection reports, one of those bearings was locked. And the collapse occurred on a hot summer day, when tons of construction materials were loaded on top of the bridge as part of a resurfacing project.

Concluding a 15-month investigation, the NTSB announced in November 2008 that gusset plates that were designed half as thick as they should have been led to the collapse. They singled out a gusset known as U10, on the upriver side of the bridge, as the probable culprit.

The closest roller bearing to U10 is the one state inspectors noted as frozen.

"It is possible, indeed probable, that the bearings may have released suddenly, sending an impulse of energy into the truss and contributing to the failure initiation," Jacobs wrote to the NTSB, citing what it said were numerous key problems with the investigation.

Calls for the NTSB to reopen investigations are not unprecedented. Under the board's rules, it will consider such requests "only if based on the discovery of new evidence or on a showing that the board's findings are erroneous."

Jacobs, which did not return a request for comment, also said there were internal NTSB disagreements about the point where the bridge first failed and that the NTSB early seized on a theory of the collapse, to the exclusion of evidence that led in different directions.

In a letter to the NTSB supporting Jacobs' request, Messerly and colleague Philip Sieff said their clients "are extremely concerned that a critical source of potential danger, namely poorly or nonfunctioning roller bearings, is being overlooked in the state's and the country's existing bridges, a circumstance that may lead to another catastrophic bridge failure."

The settlement announced Friday involved Progressive Contractors Inc., which had loaded tons of aggregate and construction materials onto the bridge as part of a resurfacing project, precisely over the area where investigators believe the bridge started to collapse.

The NTSB concluded those materials likely contributed to the collapse, but the board blamed the underdesigned gusset plates as the primary cause.

"While PCI believes that last year's findings by the NTSB cleared PCI of any wrong-doing, PCI is pleased that this settlement allows PCI to put this matter behind it while providing for compensation to the victims of the collapse," Kyle Hart, a lawyer for the company, said in a statement.

The settlement releases PCI from the case, which is ongoing in Hennepin County District Court. Jacobs and San Francisco-based URS Corp., an engineering firm under contract by the state to perform a structural analysis of the bridge at the time of its collapse, are still parties to the suit.

Not everyone agrees with Messerly's and Jacobs' conclusions. Jim Schwebel, a lawyer representing 34 victims of the collapse, said the design was the main problem with the bridge.

"We think the NTSB's analysis was substantially correct," Schwebel said.

The state has paid victims $37 million from a special bridge compensation fund. As part of that settlement, victims agreed not to sue the state.

The terms of the settlement approved Friday were not disclosed, but Schwebel said a court-appointed special master said the appropriate compensation for all victims was $54 million.

The settlement amount with PCI likely falls well below that figure.

"They had fairly limited funds," Messerly said. "They were not the primary defendant by any means."

Schwebel said URS shoulders much of the blame for the collapse. He pointed to pictures dating back to 1999 that clearly show the flawed gusset plates were bowed.

"They missed the most obvious failures in this bridge," Schwebel said.

Messerly also blames URS.

"Taxpayers paid their fee. They promised us they would make certain the bridge was safe, and despite all the red flags, they did not make any recommendations to Minnesota to make sure the bridge was safe," he said.

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