[Between the Lines]

I found this in another article:

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was expected to issue an advisory urging states to check the gusset plates when modifications are made to a bridge — such as changes to the weight of the bridge or adding a guardrail, said a federal official with knowledge of the plans.

Currently, such calculations are done for the entire bridge, but not down to the gusset plates, the official said.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322849,00.html

Now we know where the weakest link is.

[Abigail Adams]

Interesting article here, in hindsight:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2007/08/04/2007-08-04_hey_dont_blame_me_for_collapse.html

Snip:

The inspector who signed off on Minneapolis’ Interstate 35W bridge almost every year since 1994 refused to accept blame yesterday [August 3, 2007] for the collapse that killed at least five people.

“Go after the designer. Go ask him why he did what he did,” Kurt Fhurman angrily told the Daily News at his home. “Go after the designer.”