‘A NATIONAL TRAGEDY’
A rescue worker searches the ruins of a pedestrian bridge that collapsed Thursday, days after it was built over a major Miami street. At least four people were killed.
MIAMI • A pedestrian bridge that was under construction collapsed onto a busy Miami highway Thursday afternoon, crushing vehicles beneath its massive slabs of concrete and steel and killing at least four people, authorities said. Search-and-rescue crews worked into the night, using dogs, search cameras and sensitive listening devices in a frantic search to find survivors among the debris. “Everybody is working hard to make sure we rescue anyone who can be rescued,” Gov. Rick Scott said.
But Miami-Dade police director Juan Perez said hopes were dwindling with the passing of time.
“We know that there’s going to be a negative outcome at the end of the day,” Perez said.
Four people were found dead amid the chaotic scene, and nine victims were taken “early on” to hospitals, Fire Chief Dave Downey said without elaborating on their conditions.
The partially built 950-ton (860-metric ton) bridge had been assembled by the side of the highway and moved into place Saturday to great fanfare. The span stretched almost 200 feet (60 metres) to connect Florida International University with the city of Sweetwater. It was expected to open to foot traffic next year.
“This bridge was about goodness, not sadness,” said FIU President Mark Rosenberg. “Now we’re feeling immense sadness, uncontrollable sadness.”
“We have a national tragedy on our hands,” Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said.
Scott said an exhaustive investigation will uncover “why this happened and what happened,” and he vowed to hold accountable those responsible. An accelerated construction method was supposed to reduce risks to workers and pedestrians and minimize traffic disruption, the university said. Renderings of the finished bridge showed a tall, off-centre tower with cables attached to the walkway to support it. When the bridge collapsed, the main tower had not yet been installed, and it was unclear what the builders were using as temporary supports. Robert Bea, a professor of engineering and construction management at the University of California, Berkeley, said it was too early to know exactly what happened, but the decision to use what the bridge builders called an “innovative installation” was risky, especially because the bridge spanned a heavily travelled thoroughfare. “Innovations take a design firm into an area where they don’t have applicable experience, and then we have another unexpected failure on our hands,” Bea said after reviewing the bridge’s design and photos of the collapse.