Missed Opportunities I-35W Bridge Collapse

The August 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that took the lives of 13 people, was the result of a design error by the original bridge engineering firm (ref A). Specifically, the error resulted in several undersized (by about half) gusset plates. However, there were many opportunities to catch this error that were missed. This presentation will present an overview of the accident and document several of the opportunities that could have uncovered this error and prevented the collapse.