Crushed
cars are shown under a section of a
collapsed pedestrian bridge, Friday,
March 16, 2018 near Florida
International University in the
Miami area. The new pedestrian
bridge that was under construction
collapsed onto a busy Miami highway
Thursday afternoon, crushing
vehicles beneath massive slabs of
concrete and steel, killing and
injuring several people, authorities
said. (Photo: Wilfredo Lee, AP)
State:
Voicemail
about
cracking
in
bridge
wasn’t
picked
up By
ADRIANA
GOMEZ
LICON
and
JENNIFER
KAY
APNews.com
MIAMI -
An
engineer
left a
voicemail
two days
before a
catastrophic
bridge
failure
in Miami
to say
some
cracking
had been
found at
one end
of the
concrete
span,
but the
voicemail
wasn’t
picked
up until
after
the
collapse,
Florida
Department
of
Transportation
officials
said
Friday.
The
voicemail
left on
a
landline
wasn’t
heard by
a state
DOT
employee
until
Friday
because
the
employee
was out
of the
office
on an
assignment,
the
agency
said in
an
email.
In a
transcript
released
Friday
night,
Denney
Pate
with
FIGG
Bridge
Group
says the
cracking
would
need
repairs
“but
from a
safety
perspective
we don’t
see that
there’s
any
issue
there so
we’re
not
concerned
about it
from
that
perspective.”
The
pedestrian
bridge
at
Florida
International
University
collapsed
Thursday,
killing
at least
six
people.
Authorities
are
slowly
removing
the
debris,
looking
for more
victims.
Miami-Dade
Police
said two
vehicles
containing
three
bodies
were
pulled
from
underneath
the
bridge
Saturday.
At least
four
cars
remained
entangled
in the
wreckage,
authorities
said.
On
Saturday,
FIU
released
a
statement
saying
the
representatives
from the
university
and DOT
met with
a FIGG
engineer
for two
hours
Thursday
morning
to
discuss
the
cracking
and
determined
there
wasn’t a
safety
issue.
Relatives
and
friends
of
people
who are
missing
after a
pedestrian
bridge
collapsed
on a
highway
gathered
Friday
in South
Florida,
praying
and
hoping
for
miracles
as
authorities
searched
the
smashed
concrete
that has
already
claimed
six
lives.
(March
16)
“The
FIGG
engineer
of
record
delivered
a
technical
presentation
regarding
the
crack
and
concluded
that
there
were no
safety
concerns
and the
crack
did not
compromise
the
structural
integrity
of the
bridge,”
FIU
said.
At a
news
conference
Friday
night,
officials
from the
National
Transportation
Safety
Board
said
they
have
just
begun
their
investigation,
and
cannot
yet say
whether
any
cracking
contributed
to the
collapse.
They
also
said
workers
were
trying
to
strengthen
a
diagonal
member
on the
bridge
when it
collapsed.
Robert
Accetta,
the
investigator-in-charge
for the
NTSB,
said
crews
were
applying
post-tensioning
force,
but
investigators
aren’t
sure if
that’s
what
caused
the
bridge
to fall.
In a
news
release
late
Friday,
FIGG
Bridge
Engineers
said it
“continues
to work
diligently”
to
determine
the
cause of
the
collapse,
and is
examining
the
steps
its team
has
taken.
It
added,
“The
evaluation
was
based on
the best
available
information
at that
time and
indicated
that
there
were no
safety
issues.”
It also
asked
for time
to
accurately
determine
what led
to the
accident.
A
college
student
who
narrowly
escaped
from a
car that
got
smashed
in the
collapse
said he
watched
helplessly
as the
structure
tumbled
down
atop the
vehicle
and
killed
his
friend
Alexa
Duran,
who was
sitting
next to
him in
the
driver’s
seat.
Richie
Humble,
who
studies
at FIU,
was
riding
in a car
under
the
pedestrian
bridge
when he
heard a
long
creaking
noise
coming
from the
structure
that
spanned
a busy
Miami-area
highway.
It
sounded
different
from
anything
he had
ever
heard
before.
“I
looked
up, and
in an
instant,
the
bridge
was
collapsing
on us
completely.
It was
too
quick to
do
anything
about
it,”
Humble
said
Friday
in a
phone
interview
with The
Associated
Press.
Once
Humble
realized
he was
alive,
he also
realized
that he
could
not get
to
Duran.
He
called
to her
but got
no
response.
A group
of men
outside
the car
started
yelling
at him
to try
crawling
through
the rear
window.
He
couldn’t
squeeze
through
because
the
window
was
crushed.
The men
outside
grabbed
a wooden
plank
and
pried
open the
rear
door to
pull him
free, he
said.
“I
was
trying
to get
people
to
realize
my
friend
was
still in
there,”
he said.
He
suffered
cuts to
his leg
from
glass
and a
slight
fracture
to a
vertebra,
but he
was able
to walk
away
from the
scene.
While
families
waited
for word
on their
loved
ones,
investigators
sought
to
understand
why the
950-ton
bridge
gave way
during
construction.
The
cables
supporting
the span
were
being
tightened
following
a
“stress
test”
when it
collapsed,
authorities
said.
The
Florida
DOT said
in its
Friday
release
that it
had not
been
notified
of any
stress
test.
Detectives
declared
the
rubble a
homicide
scene.
Scheduled
to open
in 2019,
the
bridge
would
have
provided
safe
passage
over a
canal
and six
lanes of
traffic
and
created
a
showpiece
architectural
feature
connecting
the
campus
of FIU
with the
community
of
Sweetwater,
where
many
students
live.
The
$14.2
million
project
was
supposed
to take
advantage
of a
faster,
cheaper
and
safer
method
of
bridge-building
promoted
by the
university.
Authorities
have not
confirmed
the
victims’
names.
Duran’s
family
has said
she
died.
The
fatalities
included
a
student
at FIU.
One
person
died at
a
hospital.
Miami-Dade
Police
Director
Juan
Perez
said
five
bodies
were
located
with the
help of
cameras
but had
not yet
been
retrieved.
In a
Facebook
post,
Chelsea
Brownfield
said she
was
awaiting
any
information
about
her
husband,
Brandon.
According
to a Go
Fund Me
page set
up for
the
family,
Brandon
Brownfield
was
driving
home
from
work
when the
collapse
happened.
“The
outpouring
of love
we have
received
is
incredible,”
Chelsea
Brownfield
wrote.
The post
ended
with the
hashtag
“praying
for a
miracle.”
Brownfield
declined
to
comment
in a
message
to The
Associated
Press.
Jorge
and
Carol
Fraga
feared
their
relative’s
car was
trapped
beneath
the
bridge.
Jorge’s
60-year-old
uncle,
Rolando
Fraga,
lives in
the area
and
frequently
takes
the
nearby
turnpike
to work,
but no
one has
heard
from him
since
midday
Thursday.
“The
waiting
is so
... I
don’t
have
words
for
that,”
Carol
Fraga
said
through
tears.
The
bridge
was put
in place
March
10, five
days
before
the
collapse.
When
finished,
the span
would
have
been
supported
from
above,
with a
tall,
off-center
tower
and
cables
attached
to the
walkway.
That
tower
had not
yet been
installed,
and it
was
unclear
what
builders
were
using as
temporary
supports.