Posted on 10/05/2018 8:28:29 PM PDT by Revel
A federal judge Friday blocked the release of documents that could shed light on why a busy road outside Miami was not shut down before a brand-new bridge developing severe cracks collapsed and killed six people.
Judge William Stafford said the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency investigating the Florida International University bridge disaster, was exercising its valid federal regulatory authority in keeping the documents confidential from the media.
Staffords ruling essentially overturns a previous decision from a state court that would have released the records under Floridas broad public records law. Stafford said the state court did not have proper jurisdiction to rule on the matter. His decision suggests federal jurisdiction over the accident preempts state law.
The documents in question include minutes and notes from a meeting held hours before the newly constructed pedestrian bridge fell down March 15. They are in the possession of the Florida Department of Transportation. The Miami Herald requested their release from FDOT after the collapse, but the NTSB ordered the state not to share the records, saying their publication could threaten the integrity of its probe.
What was discussed in that meeting may prove crucial. The meeting was held because alarming cracks had developed in the span even before it was raised into place above Southwest Eighth Street. After the meeting, a construction crew clambered on top of the bridge to tighten steel rods running through the span. The workers were standing on the bridge when it came crashing down, and their actions may have caused the already over-stressed bridge to collapse, according to bridge engineering experts consulted by the Herald.
(Excerpt) Read more at bradenton.com ...
the NTSB ordered the state not to share the records, saying their publication could threaten the integrity of its probe.
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WTF? Their probe is still ongoing? Somebody is being protected!
I do not see how anything federal is at fault for a city run item.
Design flaw. And...designed by chics. At FIU, who’s statewide nickname is Florida Immitation University.
Lots of pakistani’s, arabs, and rich south Americans. Rampant cheating, dumb students.
Diversity Fail? All-Women Engineering Team Blamed for Collapse of Miami Pedestrian Bridge
It was a cable-stayed bridge, and an asymmetric one at that. Right after the collapse one of the women in charge was quoted as saying that the cables were only "for aesthetics". Possibly one of the stupidest things ever said in public.
I am hoping that the quote is preserved for the lawsuit, and that the company that put such people in charge of this project gets hammered. Any competent engineer will be able to attest that the cables are a necessary part of the structure and that the span must be held up with cribbing until the cables are properly placed and tensioned.
This is down the memory hole.404 Article Not Found. Wonder why?
We went to separate schools together. He went to "Hell & a Hand Basket school," I went to the little White school on the fruited plains.
I alway's wondered what happened to him. Rolling my eye's NOW!!!!
NTSB investigations usually take several months and are very thorough. There is no coverup.
I’ve seen the design drawings for this bridge online, and the truth is THERE WERE NO CABLES!! Just pipes that were to look like clad cables. They were to be added later. As for the ?tensioned span, let’s just say I predict the final report will be THICK!!
Wow! I missed that. Incredible. Not a structural engineer, but have been through statics and solid mechanics, have a clue, and have worked with structural engineers.
Minority contract under Obama administration
You are a tool of the Eurocentric, logocentric, cis-het hegemony. Report for reeducation before it is too late.
The bridge was not cable stayed. It was a post tensioned asymmetric concrete truss structure. The cables were for looks. Stupid design, worse execution.
I’m no expert, but I know that concrete is great in compression, but awful in tension. So steel is used to tension the concrete with enough force to prevent the concrete from ever entering the tension zone.
When it does, it cracks.
The bridge span was already cracked, but the put it in place anyway. Then sent guys to re-tension the steel rods.
It didn’t like that. El-boom-o.
But...chics can’t be wrong. So bridges fall down.
No real surprise, I guess. Some woman editor wanted to be "believed."
Sorry I hadn't checked the link that I had saved from the week of the collapse.
Oh, hey. I searched the title and found another link:
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