By Dan Linehan
Free Press Staff Writer
ST PETER
May 29, 2008 12:40 am
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Engineers are scrutinizing a St. Peter bridge that’s one of seven truss bridges around the state that has the type of gusset plates fingered in a preliminary report as a possible cause of the I-35W bridge collapse.
Inspectors will come within a few feet of each segment of the bridge, but there will be more attention than usual paid to the plates, which hold parts of the bridge together. Some of the gusset plates on the I-35W bridge were about half as thick as they should have been.
There are hundreds of gusset plates on the Highway 99 bridge, said Larry Cooper, bridge supervisor Minnesota Department of Transportation’s 7th District. The bridge carries about 6,000 vehicles over the Minnesota River each day.
Two days into an inspection that will finish today or Friday, Cooper said he’s satisfied with the gusset plates, which can be several inches across with only a few rivets or many meters wide with dozens of rivets.
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Photos
Ken Rand and Jennifer Zink, with MnDOT’s bridge division, inspected the Highway 99 bridge over the Minnesota River in St. Peter Wednesday morning. The in-depth investigation will cover the entire bridge, but special attention will be given to the gusset plates, whose faulty design on the I-35W bridge may have led to its collapse. John Cross