We already know errors in design and a failure to catch those errors were the root causes of the FIU bridge collapse that killed six people in 2018. But now, NBC 6 Investigator Tony Pipitone found a new Inspector General report poses another question: could a federal agency have caught the catastrophic errors?
Almost three years after six people were killed when a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University, plans are moving forward for a new one in the same location.
In a meeting this week, the university's board of trustees approved the transfer of $9.1 million to the Florida Department of Transportation, which will oversee the design and construction of the bridge, the Miami Herald reported.
The bridge was under construction when the 950-ton span collapsed onto a busy Miami highway on March 15, 2018, trapping cars that had been stopped at a traffic light underneath. One construction worker and five people sitting in their cars were killed.
The new bridge will span the same highway, connecting the university's Modesto A. Maidique Campus to the downtown area of a Miami suburb.
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The Herald reported the university got the $9.1 million from different sources, including $8.5 million from the settlement with the contractors on the failed bridge.
Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis authorized the Florida Department of Transportation to “accept responsibility for completing the new bridge and administering the design and construction contracts,” according to the resolution approved Tuesday by the university's board.
