35W survivor calls on state to take action

Kimberly Brown showed an eroded pillar on I-394 and asked transportation officials and legislators to fix bridges now before they become the next to collapse.

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Last update: September 14, 2008 - 11:51 PM

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Minnesota bridges rated: An interactive map of bridges that are "structurally deficient," "functionally obsolete" or have gusset plates like those on the I-35W bridge.

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Bridge collapse survivor Kimberly Brown started documenting structural issues with other bridges in Minnesota shortly after the one-year anniversary of the Interstate 35W collapse that left her three-quarters of an inch shorter and with post-traumatic stress.

On Sunday, she stood before a partially eroded concrete pillar supporting Interstate 394 in Minneapolis and with representatives of Minnesota 2020, a St. Paul public policy think tank, and she called for legislators and officials at the Minnesota Department of Transportation to actively fund and perform bridge repairs before they deteriorate to the point of collapsing.

Her call for repairs came one day before Gov. Tim Pawlenty's news conference this morning announcing when the new 35W bridge will open. "Creating a memorial and holding ceremonies is good, but we need to go further," Brown said.

Brown, 37, was a passenger in a car when the bridge collapsed. She fell with its midsection and crawled out through the driver's side window.

She began her personal investigation after speaking with construction workers about bridge safety and repairs. Their comments about how some repairs are shelved or are hastily executed were alarming, she said, declining to identify where she spoke with construction workers.

"It shouldn't take a citizen playing investigator to get things fixed," Brown said. "They [MnDOT] should do it."

Last month Brown e-mailed MnDOT officials a letter outlining her concerns and included 34 pages of photos she had taken of three bridges. She said she sent it three times because she didn't receive a response the first two times. The third time, MnDOT officials told her they would get back to her, Brown said.

MnDOT spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said the first two e-mails were not received because MnDOT was having e-mail system problems.

"She had done some pretty good legwork," he said of Brown's photos (viewable at www.mn2020.org). "I do know that whenever bridge inspectors find situations like those depicted in the photographs, they do a very thorough examination of those to determine what the structural integrity is. Sometimes, there are cosmetic issues that don't affect structural integrity."

MnDOT hopes to respond to Brown's e-mail by next week, he said. The agency is aware of the issues she raised, he said, and has long planned to fix the crumbling pillar that served as the backdrop for Sunday's news conference.

"The safety of the driving public is our number one concern," Gutknecht said. "We take the resources we have to do that."

Brown also called on officials to be more open with the public about structural problems.

Minnesota 2020 board chairman Matt Entenza and transportation fellow Conrad deFiebre criticized Pawlenty for vetoing this year's $6.6 billion, 10-year transportation funding package. Even though the veto was overridden and the package passed, MnDOT is still $2 billion a year short of meeting its goals for the state highway system, DeFiebre pointed out.

"Minnesota is going backwards," said Entenza, a former DFL legislator. "And while we celebrate a new bridge and politicians take credit ... we need to think: What's next? When's another bridge going to fall?"

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391