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Cracks where FIU bridge buckled may have signaled 'imminent failure'
Retweeted by StoleMyLookHat: https://twitter.com/Popehat
Hi @FIU, meet the first amendment. First amendment meet FIU. @Popehat
Link to tweet
Florida International University @FIU demands reporters delete and stop showing pictures they "unintentionally released" that show cracks in bridge 10 days before deadly collapse http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article210449384.html …
Link to tweet
Cracks where FIU bridge buckled may have signaled 'imminent failure'
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI, NICHOLAS NEHAMAS AND JENNY STALETOVICH
aviglucci@miamiherald.com
nnehamas@miamiherald.com
jstaletovich@miamiherald.com
May 07, 2018 04:53 PM
Updated May 09, 2018 03:08 PM
A key concrete support truss in the doomed Florida International University pedestrian bridge developed worrisome cracks 10 days before the structure was lifted into place over the Tamiami Trail, photographs and an internal email unintentionally released by the school show. ... The documents, released in response to public records requests from the Miami Herald, show that FIU's construction and engineering team discovered potentially problematic cracks in the bridge earlier than officials have previously acknowledged. ... The cracks were found in late February at the base of a diagonal support member at the north end of the span. Independent engineers have identified that as the point where the structure shattered on March 15 while under construction, sending the 950-ton bridge crashing onto the roadway below and claiming six lives.
....
"Knowing the stresses that member was under and what happened, that crack was something that in hindsight should have been investigated," said David Beck, a New Hampshire engineer who helped uncover mistakes in Boston's $10.8 billion Big Dig project. ... Linwood Howell, a senior engineer at a Texas firm that specializes in bridge design and inspection, said the cracks were signs of the structure's "imminent failure." ... "There's nothing they could have done short of starting over and redesigning the structure," said Howell, whose firm conducts bridge inspections for the state of Texas.
....
NTSB, which is investigating the bridge collapse, has told FIU and the Florida Department of Transportation not to release records dated after Feb. 19, so there are no available public records to document any response from FIGG or other team members to Morales' memo. The Herald has sued to obtain subsequent records related to the bridge collapse. The bridge collapse is also the subject of a Miami-Dade police homicide investigation and families of some of the victims have filed lawsuits. ... The Feb. 28 memo and the attached photos of cracking were released in error, an FIU attorney, Eric Isicoff, said Monday. After the Herald contacted FIU for comment on the cracks, Isicoff demanded reporters delete any copies of the documents from their computers. ... "Any hard copies that have been made also should be destroyed," Isicoff wrote.
Mark Caramanica, an attorney at Thomas & LoCicero representing the Herald in its public records requests to FIU, said the Herald has no obligation to comply. ... "The Herald has a First Amendment right to publish this information, and the public has a right to know what may have led to this terrible event," he said. ... The cracks documented in the Feb. 28 memo were discovered while the span was still resting on the ground, after the removal of temporary shoring that provided support while it was built by the side of the Trail. ... Beck and Howell said that's potentially telling because the span at that point was resting only on a support on either end, mimicking the way it would stand once installed over the roadway. The cracks thus could have been a sign of shearing pressure — a sideways stress — that the No. 11 truss could not handle once under the full load it was meant to carry.
....
Nicholas Nehamas: 305-376-3745, @NickNehamas
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI, NICHOLAS NEHAMAS AND JENNY STALETOVICH
aviglucci@miamiherald.com
nnehamas@miamiherald.com
jstaletovich@miamiherald.com
May 07, 2018 04:53 PM
Updated May 09, 2018 03:08 PM
A key concrete support truss in the doomed Florida International University pedestrian bridge developed worrisome cracks 10 days before the structure was lifted into place over the Tamiami Trail, photographs and an internal email unintentionally released by the school show. ... The documents, released in response to public records requests from the Miami Herald, show that FIU's construction and engineering team discovered potentially problematic cracks in the bridge earlier than officials have previously acknowledged. ... The cracks were found in late February at the base of a diagonal support member at the north end of the span. Independent engineers have identified that as the point where the structure shattered on March 15 while under construction, sending the 950-ton bridge crashing onto the roadway below and claiming six lives.
....
"Knowing the stresses that member was under and what happened, that crack was something that in hindsight should have been investigated," said David Beck, a New Hampshire engineer who helped uncover mistakes in Boston's $10.8 billion Big Dig project. ... Linwood Howell, a senior engineer at a Texas firm that specializes in bridge design and inspection, said the cracks were signs of the structure's "imminent failure." ... "There's nothing they could have done short of starting over and redesigning the structure," said Howell, whose firm conducts bridge inspections for the state of Texas.
....
NTSB, which is investigating the bridge collapse, has told FIU and the Florida Department of Transportation not to release records dated after Feb. 19, so there are no available public records to document any response from FIGG or other team members to Morales' memo. The Herald has sued to obtain subsequent records related to the bridge collapse. The bridge collapse is also the subject of a Miami-Dade police homicide investigation and families of some of the victims have filed lawsuits. ... The Feb. 28 memo and the attached photos of cracking were released in error, an FIU attorney, Eric Isicoff, said Monday. After the Herald contacted FIU for comment on the cracks, Isicoff demanded reporters delete any copies of the documents from their computers. ... "Any hard copies that have been made also should be destroyed," Isicoff wrote.
Mark Caramanica, an attorney at Thomas & LoCicero representing the Herald in its public records requests to FIU, said the Herald has no obligation to comply. ... "The Herald has a First Amendment right to publish this information, and the public has a right to know what may have led to this terrible event," he said. ... The cracks documented in the Feb. 28 memo were discovered while the span was still resting on the ground, after the removal of temporary shoring that provided support while it was built by the side of the Trail. ... Beck and Howell said that's potentially telling because the span at that point was resting only on a support on either end, mimicking the way it would stand once installed over the roadway. The cracks thus could have been a sign of shearing pressure — a sideways stress — that the No. 11 truss could not handle once under the full load it was meant to carry.
....
Nicholas Nehamas: 305-376-3745, @NickNehamas
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