Article: NTSB Implicates Design Flaw in Collapse Of Interstate 35W Bridge in Minneapolis

A design flaw - undersized steel gussets - was implicated in the deadly Aug. 1 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, the National Transportation Safety Board said last week.

Gusset plates are widely used in steel truss bridges and the Transportation Department notified all states that they should include gusset plates in calculating how much load a bridge can carry.

NTSB said that 16 gusset plates on the main trusses of the bridge were roughly half the thickness required and too thin to provide the margin of safety expected in a properly designed bridge. NTSB first expressed concern about gussets used to build the I-35W bridge in the days following its collapse.

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