Latest set of videos might reveal cause of FIU bridge collapse
Aug. 16, 2018
Workers seen tensioning structure before it drops onto live traffic
After remaining quiet since the collapse of its own pedestrian bridge back in March, Florida International University (FIU) dropped a bomb on Aug. 15. FIU released a time-lapsed video that might have revealed the cause of the fatal accident that killed six.
Six time-lapse videos have been put together from a series of still photos taken from FIU cameras between March 1 and March 19. Before the collapse occurred, four workers are clearly seen standing on top of the bridge using a jack to re-tension, or tighten, the steel rods that ran through a crucial concrete support truss at the bridge’s north end. The action may have caused the span, which already had cracks, to fall on live traffic.
The videos were sent to the Miami Herald in response to a public records request, and also show workers de-tensioning the north and south ends of the bridge on March 10, five days before the collapse.
