NTSB Presented on a Miami Bridge Collapse Investigation
Senior Investigators of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) joined BCT for the last lecture of the Spring 2022 semester. The talk focused on the investigation into the Miami Florida International University Pedestrian Bridge Collapse in 2018, and the communications materials that were produced about the incident.
On March 15, 2018, a partially constructed pedestrian bridge crossing an eight-lane roadway in the city of Miami, Florida, experienced a catastrophic structural failure in the nodal connection between two truss members and the bridge deck. The 174-foot-long bridge span fell about 18.5 feet onto a road partially open to traffic. On the day of the collapse, a construction crew was working to retension the post-tensioning rods connecting the bridge canopy and the deck. Eight vehicles located below the bridge were fully or partially crushed, seven of which were occupied. One bridge worker and five vehicle occupants died. Five bridge workers and five other people were injured.
The presentation provided a general overview of the...
