Mar 17, 2018

Engineer on collapsed Miami bridge warned of cracking days earlier

Haley Britzky

A crushed vehicle at the scene where a pedestrian bridge collapsed. Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

The Miami Herald reports that an engineer on the bridge that collapsed Thursday, taking at least six lives, warned the Florida Department of Transportation earlier in the week of "cracking" in the concrete.

"“Hey Tom, this is Denney Pate with FIGG bridge engineers. Calling to, uh, share with you some information about the FIU pedestrian bridge and some cracking that’s been observed...[O]bviously some repairs or whatever will have to be done but from a safety perspective we don't see that there's any issue."
— Voicemail from Denney Pate to the FDOT on Tuesday
  • The FDOT told the Miami Herald that Pate's voicemail "wasn't heard by any of its employees until...after the bridge fell."
  • Cracking is "not unusual in concrete construction," per the Herald. The collapse is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.

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Rival protesters over the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi, India, on Monday. Photo: Yawar Nazir/ Getty Images

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The Trump administration sent a letter to Congress Monday requesting a funding commitment of at least $2.5 billion to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. rose to 53.

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