The Cover-Up Continues

The National Transportation Safety Board is ready to release it's final report on the cause of the 35W Bridge collapse last year.

Original designers of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis likely neglected to calculate the size of key gusset plates that eventually failed, a human mistake that culminated 40 years later when 13 people died after the span collapsed, federal safety investigators have found.

It also listed some of the things that did NOT cause the collapse....

They also have determined that corrosion of certain gusset plates, extreme heat and shifting piers did not contribute to the bridge's collapse on Aug. 1, 2007, according to sources with direct knowledge of the probe.

Notice that they did not rule Carol Molnau, Governor Pawlenty or a lack of transportation funding, as many have speculated. OK you know that I am being just a tiny bit sarcastic with that comment...

The thing is, the gusset plates have long been a suspect in the collapse of the bridge.

In January, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker was criticized by U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., and others for placing too much early emphasis on gusset plate failure as the potential cause. But the investigators' findings appear to validate Rosenker's early stance.

JRoosh and Ed have thoughts up about the report and they both sum it up quite nicely. After you read them, you might want to remember who had warning (in 2000) about the weakness of the gusset plates.....that would be former Transportation Commissioner and current candidate for the 6th CD El Tinklenberg!

Oh He Did NOT....

This September 15 entry from El Tinklenberg's campaign blog simply can not go unaddressed.

Today we honor those who lost their lives or suffered injury in the tragic 35W bridge collapse on August 1, 2007. We are thankful to the dedicated responders who so bravely participated in the recovery and those who have since worked to ensure the future safety of the 35W Bridge. This efficient rebuilding effort would not have been possible without the help of many people, including the Minnesota Congressional delegation.

But let's not forget that not all of our representatives were united on this effort. While today Congresswoman Michele Bachmann took credit for supporting the 35W bridge bill, the facts tell us that she voted twice to keep it from coming to a vote.

First, she voted to adjourn Congress before the bill could be voted on; and subsequently, voted against allowing the bill to come to the House floor. These votes clearly demonstrate the extent Representative Bachmann will go to put party loyalty before Minnesotaâ€'s interests.

Let's take a quick trip in Mr. Peabody's Way Back Machine shall we? The bill in question (above) was the bill that contained more than a few poision pills as I described here. Pills like Mayor Ryback's desire to build an "enhanced bridge" with the emergency funds instead of replacing the existing one.

Add to this her "no earmarks" pledge against replacing the structurally disabled DeSoto Bridge in St. Cloud and her votes against funding local first responders, and you start to see a pattern of neglecting the emergency needs of the citizens of the 6th District.

Except that the "no earmarks" pledge came later - long after the 35W bridge collapse. The other "votes"....well let's just say I think Mr. Tinklenberg needs to give bill numbers so that the people can do their due diligence instead of relying on the claims of a politician running for office.

Clearly, we cannot afford two more years of Representative Bachmann putting political gain before the needs of Minnesotans. As a former mayor and former Minnesota Commissioner of Transportation I can assure you that I understand that when it comes to the safety of our citizens there should be no such thing as partisan politics.

Yes - let's talk Mr. Commissioner....let's talk about the recommendation (in 1999) to fix the 35W bridge that YOU said "NO" to...a recommendation to fix the gusset plates that ended up failing 8 years later! Bridges do not "fail" overnight - they take time. Were you thinking about the safety of our citizens when you said "no" to fixing those gusset plates? Or are you eschewing "partisan politics" when you got in front of the Channel 9 cameras to blame Lt. Governor Molnau for your failure to fix the gusset plates?

I think that the citizens of the 6th District are due honest answers from you on that if you wish to represent them.