Impact of I-35W Bridge Failure on State Transportation Agency Bridge Inspection and Evaluation Programs

The unfortunate collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August 2007 has brought bridge safety to the forefront of the public. The immediate reaction to the incident was focused on highway bridge inspection and evaluation practices, especially related to inspection and evaluation of gusset plates on truss bridges. There were several directives from federal and state authorities to address these issues in the short-term and long-term. The short-term directives were to address the inspection and evaluation of gusset plates on truss bridges similar to the collapsed I-35W bridge. For the long-term, Congress and the bridge industry have focused on reviewing current practices in bridge inspection and bridge management, identifying gaps and issues with current practices and policies that can be improved in the future, and providing methodologies to effectively utilize available limited resources using risk based methodologies. This paper will discuss these issues from the owners' perspective based on the authors' involvement and experience in working with state and other transportation agencies on such issues.