Fed: Bridge maintenance not design most likely at fault

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2007
Fed: Bridge maintenance not design most likely at fault

An engineering expert says maintenance .. not design .. is the most likely cause of
the disastrous collapse of the Minneapolis bridge in America.

But he says we're not likely to experience anything like it here in Australia.

Associate Professor PRIYAN MENDIS from the University of Melbourne worked in Minneapolis
for six months in 1996 .. and says questions have always been raised about the 40-year-old
bridge.

He says its steel-deck truss design was common during the 1950s and 1960s .. but has
now been overlooked in favour of suspension bridges.

Brisbane's Story Bridge and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are other examples of steel truss bridges.

Professor MENDIS says maintenance is key with this design because there are no piers
in the water .. only pylons on each side of the river to support it.

But he says the design's unlikely to be at fault .. with other factors like increased
load bearings .. and ageing infrastructure playing a part.

He says with temperatures in the area dropping well below zero in winter .. the bridge
also had an automatic de-icing system that may have used corrosive chemicals or salt.

AAP RTV tkc/sl/bart

KEYWORD: US FREEWAY AUST (ADELAIDE)

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