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In Colorado, NTSB Determines Cause Of Deadly Highway Bridge Girder Collapse

Washington, D.C. -- In a report adopted, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that poor construction planning and execution led to the failure of a temporary bracing system for a bridge girder being installed above Interstate 70 (I-70) in Golden, Colorado, causing the girder to collapse onto a passenger vehicle on I-70, killing three people. The Board cited as contributing factors the lack of uniform, consistent bracing standards and the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT's) narrow definition of falsework, which did not include lateral bracing. Also contributing to the accident was CDOT's failure to effectively oversee safety critical contract work.

"This accident shows us just how important it is to have very clear guidelines about what is required for safe operations," stated NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker, "Sometimes it seems like such common sense that we wonder why we need these guidelines, and then we see an accident like this one."

On the morning of May 15, 2004, a steel girder that had been installed about 3 days earlier and secured with a temporary bracing system, sagged into the eastbound lanes of I-70 and struck a sport utility vehicle traveling along the roadway. All three people in the vehicle, including a 2-year-old child, were killed in the accident.

The girder had been installed as part of a bridge-widening project managed by CDOT. To perform the construction work, CDOT contracted with Asphalt Specialties, Inc., which subcontracted the girder installation to Ridge Erection Company, Inc. Read more at: www.ntsb.gov

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