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Inspectors Highlighted Bridge Faults

Debris removal delayed as Navy, FBI divers comb wreckage

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 8, 2007 6:17 PM CDT
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(Newser) – The I-35W bridge collapse followed 10 years' worth of warnings from bridge inspectors, who eventually recommended that the structure be replaced, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Experts disagree on the urgency with which the warnings were issued and should have been addressed, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty said yesterday that no experts indicated the bridge should be closed.

Meanwhile, officials said today removal of the wreckage, originally scheduled to begin by late this week, must wait for Navy and FBI divers to complete their search of the Mississippi, the AP reports. Eighty-eight vehicles remain on the site, some underwater, where a police spokesman said they'll remain unless they're interfering with the divers' work.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, President Bush, Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak and Gary Babineau, from left, tour the site of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007. Babineau, who was in his truck on the bridge when it collapsed, helped rescue kids from a school bus...
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, President Bush, Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak and Gary Babineau, from left, tour the site of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007. Babineau,...   (Associated Press)
Recovery efforts continue Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, at the site of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Fears that the death toll would rise dramatically as workers searched through the wreckage of the bridge that plunged into the Mississippi River eased Friday when authorities lowered the number of missing...
Recovery efforts continue Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, at the site of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Fears that the death toll would rise dramatically as workers searched through the wreckage...   (Associated Press)
A worker makes his way through the collapsed bridge surface and past submerged vehicles as President Bush, not pictured, tours the Interstate 35W bridge collapse into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
A worker makes his way through the collapsed bridge surface and past submerged vehicles as President Bush, not pictured, tours the Interstate 35W bridge collapse into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis,...   (Associated Press)
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Collapse may affect gas prices
Associated Press

Wreckage removal must wait for divers to complete search
Associated Press

Most vehicles at the disaster site are trapped under rubble
Minneapolis Star Tribune

 
Minneapolis • Mississippi River • bridge collapse • I 35W bridge • Tim Pawlenty

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