2 Investigators from Deadly Minnesota Bridge Failure Working on FIU Bridge Collapse

As officials with the National Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate last month’s bridge collapse at Florida State University, the Miami Herald reports that they are using lessons learned while investigating the I-35 bridge collapse in Minnesota to help in the process. At least two of the FIU investigators, Robert Accetta and Dan Walsh, were investigators of the Minnesota tragedy, which killed 13 people a decade ago.

NTSB authorities are collecting a wide variety of evidence for the investigation, including photographic and video evidence, and witness testimony. The hardest part of the process, they say, will be pinpointing the exact cause of the structure’s failure. Working in their favor, though, are regulations that changed the way construction records are stored, changes which were implemented following the Minnesota bridge collapse.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are only 18 NTSB investigators covering the entire U.S. They are responsible for handling a wide variety of transportation tragedies, such as March’s fatal self-driving Uber car crash in Arizona.

The Herald report says that officials are already identifying similarities between the FIU and Minnesota bridge collapses.