Six years after the collapse of a pedestrian bridge near the campus of Florida International University, the general contractor behind the project has a new name and is still working on major projects.
Friday marked six years since the collapse of the 174-foot-long, 950-ton pedestrian bridge in on Southwest 8th Street in southwest Miami-Dade.
The victims included five people who were sitting in the cars underneath the bridge while stopped at a traffic light: Alberto Arias, 53, Brandon Brownfield, 39, FIU student Alexa Duran, 18, Rolando Fraga, 60, and his partner Oswaldo Gonzalez, 57. Construction worker Navaro Brown, 37, was also killed in the collapse.
Following a lengthy investigation, National Transportation and Safety Board officials concluded the design firm underestimated the load of the bridge and overestimated its strength in a critical section that splintered.
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Who was the bridge's general contractor?
The general contractor on the project was Munilla Construction Management, a Miami-based family business founded in 1983 and run by five siblings at the time of the collapse.
According to its website, MCM has completed over 500 projects which includes some $2.4 billion in completed work.
MCM had won the $14.2 million contract to build the pedestrian walkway, after a long history of working on large-scale government contracts across Florida and the U.S.
In addition, the company had been a prolific donor to local and federal politicians, according to the Miami Herald. It has also had some safety issues.
A review of Occupational Safety and Health Administration records shows that MCM has been cited for 11 safety violations, three of them "serious," between 2014 to 2017, according to the federal agency. The fines totaling more than $50,000 arose from complaints about unsafe trenches, cement dust and other problems at its Florida work sites.
The same month of the FIU bridge collapse, a Transportation Security Administration employee filed a lawsuit accusing the company of "shoddy work" after MCM allegedly placed a makeshift bridge at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that collapsed under his weight. Jose Perez said in court documents he sustained significant injuries in the October 2016 incident.
The lawsuit alleged that MCM "failed to utilize reasonable care in the design, planning, inspection and maintenance" of the make-shift bridge, adding it employed "incompetent, inexperienced, unskilled, or careless employees." The makeshift bridge was inside a construction site not accessible to the general public, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, MCM said the incident was mischaracterized and that the "makeshift bridge" referenced in the lawsuit was a piece of plywood.
"We want to make it clear that there is no bridge, or temporary bridge, at this project," MCM wrote. "This was simply a trip and fall accident that occurred on the ground floor involving a piece of plywood that was covering a sidewalk under construction."
MCM was awarded the $128 million expansion of Terminal 4 at Fort Lauderdale airport in October 2015. A month later, the company announced in a news release it had secured the FIU pedestrian bridge project in partnership with FIGG Bridge Engineers, a Tallahassee firm that designed the structure.
FIU BRIDGE COLLAPSE 6 YEARS LATER
What happened with MCM after the FIU bridge collapse?
The NTSB found Munilla was partially responsible for the collapse, noting in a 2019 report that MCM and other entities involved in the construction failed tto stop work on the bridge "when the structure cracking reached unacceptable levels and to take appropriate action to close SW 8th Street as necessary to protect public safety."
MCM and others businesses involved in the project were also sued in state court by 21 plaintiffs claiming wrongful death or personal injury.
The company changed its name to Magnum Construction Management, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2019, seeking to reorganize.
A new project for MCM
Just last month, Broward County commissioners approved a contract with MCM for a project to make improvements at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's Terminal 1.
The project's contract price is a whopping $24,763,112.91 with another $4,327,462.83 for allowances.
Safety at the forefront
MCM insists they are a "safety first" company on their website, saying all MCM projects are staffed with a qualified team of OSHA-trained construction professionals.
"At MCM, anyone who believes they are witnessing an unsafe condition is urged to report the issue to the company president if the situation is not immediately addressed to their satisfaction," the website reads. "We will not take anything for granted, and we will ensure that each member of our team and everyone involved in our projects adheres to the highest standards of safe practices and leaves in the same or better condition than they arrived."
