Florida Bridge Collapse Kills Six and Injures Nine

(Newswire.net — March 27, 2018) West Palm Beach, FLORIDA — 7 people died, and 9 were injured last Thursday when a pedestrian bridge near Florida International University (FIU) collapsed onto a busy state highway, crushing vehicles under the bridge.

The FIU-Sweetwater pedestrian bridge had been recently installed on March 10, as a means to improve the safety of students and pedestrians trying cross from the Sweetwater neighborhood to the FIU campus. Just last year, an FIU student was struck and killed trying to cross the busy street.

The cause of the collapse is not known at this time. However, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said the state would be investigating the cause and determining if there was any wrongdoing that could lead to the persons responsible being held accountable.

FIU president Mark Rosenberg states the university had followed the appropriate steps in building the bridge and all hired contractors were state-certified.

A statement from FIU says that Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) technology was being used to build the bridge. This technology allows for a streamlined building process, which completes the project in a more timely and cost-efficient manner. This technology is used by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) to reduce traffic interruption and road closures, create safer work areas, reduce weather-delays, protect the environment, and build safer, longer-lasting bridges compared to conventional processes.  

Munilla Construction Management known as MCM, a Miami company involved in building the bridge, released the following statement on their website, “Our family’s thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy….MCM is a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way.”

FIGG Bridge Engineers, the company who designed the bridge, has also released a statement relaying their shock at the incident and expressing condolences to the families and their victims. Both companies have pledged to cooperate fully with authorities in the ongoing investigation into the cause of the bridge collapse.

Bolton Perez and Associates, an engineering firm also involved in the construction, has yet to comment.

According to USA Today, a lawsuit was filed on Monday by a man who claims he was seriously injured while riding his bike under the bridge. Marquise Rashaad Hepburn claims he was biking to work when the bridge collapsed, forcing a car to swerve into him. The lawsuit was filed against FIGG, MCM and several other companies involved in the project.

At this time it is unknown how successful the lawsuit will be and what damages victims and their families could be entitled to in similar cases. Much of this depends on the investigation of the National Transportation Safety Board and the independent homicide investigation being conducted by Miami-Dade Police Department to determine if any criminal charges should be laid.

The 950-ton University City bridge, designed to withstand Cat 5 hurricanes, was still under construction at the time of the collapse. It was set to open in 2019 for pedestrians and cyclists.

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