Cracks in Miami Bridge Reported 2 Days Prior to Collapse

An engineer left a voicemail with the Florida Department of Transportation, describing the cracks.

Firefighters at Miami bridge collapse
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Image via Getty/Joe Raedle

Firefighters at Miami bridge collapse

After a 950-ton pedestrian bridge in Miami collapsed on on Thursday, a voicemail from an engineer surfaced on Friday, warning officials that “some cracking had been found at one end of the concrete span,” the New York Post reported. The voicemail had been left two days before the catastrophe.

The engineer left the voicemail with an employee of the Florida Department of Transportation, who was out of the office for a work-related assignment, which is why the employee didn’t hear it until Friday, per state DOT officials.

In the voicemail, the engineer, Denney Pate with FIGG Bridge Group noted that the cracking would need to be fixed, adding, “but from a safety perspective we don’t see that there’s any issue there so we’re not concerned about it from that perspective.”

The bridge collapse killed at least six people—authorities are still looking for more bodies.

On Friday night, at a news conference, authorities from National Transportation Safety Board stated that because they had just started their investigation, they weren’t confident that the cracking was responsible for the collapse. During the briefing, it was also divulged that the bridge had sustained a “stress test,” and its concrete-reinforcing steel cables were being further secured when it gave way.

Fire Chief Dave Downey shared on Thursday night that nine other victims were removed from the rubble “early on” and were transported to the hospital.

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