Hours before a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed on Thursday, killing six people, engineers met the construction manager, state transportation officials and university representatives to discuss a crack on the structure. It said the session included a technical presentation by Figg Bridge Engineers that “concluded there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge”. The state transportation department also said one of its consultants attended a meeting with the FIU bridge team hours before the collapse. The National Transportation Safety Board chief investigator, Robert Accetta, said on Friday it was too soon to tell if cracks played a role in the bridge collapse. “I would have to say that a crack in the bridge does not necessarily mean it’s unsafe,” he said.

Source: The Irish Times March 18, 2018 06:56 UTC