10 Years After Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, 'Fracture-Critical' Bridges Abound

Michael Grass writes:

Flags stood at half-staff on Monday across Minnesota to mark the 10th anniversary of the collapse of the Interstate 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, an event that killed 13 people and injured 145 more after a gusset plate failed during the evening rush hour, causing the half of the 1,907-foot structure to fall into the Mississippi River.

Grass takes the 10th anniversary of the tragedy as an occasion to evaluate the lessons from that "major wake up call" on the state of the nation's infrastructure. The obvious conclusion: that the nation has done little to improve the safety of its roads and bridges. For instance, the Federal Highway Administration considered the I-35W Bridge a "fracture-critical bridge" when it collapsed. In 2017, there are 18,000 fracture-critical bridges in the United States.

For local coverage of the ten-year anniversary of the tragedy, see an article by Dylan Thomas for The Journal.