The epoxy supplier knew full well that his brand wasn't good for the long haul and assumed the construction bosses knew that too -- but they did not know that. So, the bottom line is that the I-35W bridge "apparently lacked the kind of redundancy planning that is the norm today," Teschler asserts. And since the I-35W bridge was designed in the 1960s it went online prior to the ASCE began noticing the "increased frequency of structural failures" -- an unfortunate bit of timing indeed.

Conclusion

The new I-35W bridge that spans the Mississippi River and provides a reliable route into and out of the Minneapolis area has been fitted with "a complex array of more than 300 sensors" which will hopefully act as a "structural health monitoring" system (Murray, 2008). Typically, Murray writes in Design News, sensors are applied to older structures; but in this case, taking extra care to assure the safety of the bridge...

It is too bad sensors weren't installed on the original bridge construction; lives may well have been saved.
Works Cited

Ichniowski, Tom. (2008). NTSB Cites Gussets and Loads in Collapse. ENR: Engineering News-

Record, 261(16), 60-61.

McNichol, Dan. (2007). A Troubled Bridge Over Water. Roads & Bridges, Retrieved April 15,

2009, from http://www.roadsbridges.com.

Murray, Charles J. (2008). Sensors Deliver Real-Time Info on New Minnesota Bridge.

Design News, Retrieved April 16, 2009, from http://www.designnews.com.

Teschler, Leland. (2007). Why Bridges Fail. Machine Design. Retrieved April 16, 2009,

From http://www.machinedesign.com.

Van Hampton, Tudor, & Rubin, Debra K. (2007). Minnesota Bridge Conditions Were

Extensively Documented. ENR: Engineering…