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NTSB Chairman Defends Decision On Public Hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board Wednesday defended the board's decision not to hold a public hearing into last year's deadly collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis -- and released internal deliberations showing that staffers expressed concern about "losing control" of the investigation and discussed the politics of the issue.

The decision to skip the hearing, NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker told Rep. Jim Oberstar in a letter, "was an extremely difficult one." Board members took two months before voting, 3-2, to accept staff's recommendations against a hearing, he wrote.

Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee, wrote a scathing letter to Rosenker last week panning that decision.

The internal memos point to undersized gusset plates, used to hold the bridge's girders together, combined with heavy loads of construction materials placed on the bridge for a repaving project as the apparent cause of the collapse.

"Although we continue to investigate this event, staff believes that the strength of certain gusset plates used in the fabrication of the bridge trusses was likely a primary factor that led to the bridge collapse," one memo said.

"Staff also believes that the loads placed on the bridge on the day of the accident played a role in the collapse."

NTSB Managing Director Joseph Osterman wrote in another memo that aging infrastructure "was not the significant factor" in the bridge collapse.

"The suggestion that the issue regarding the I-35W Bridge was design and the design process, rather than corrosion or some other degradation and the systems in place to identify those issues will fly in the face of many critics. However, the outcome of our investigation appears to be clear, so showing our cards at a public hearing or in the final report is simply a matter of timing," Osterman wrote.

Separately Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Transportation commented for the first time on media reports that photos taken four years before the collapse showed slight bending in gusset plates that investigators have focused on. MnDOT said the photos alone weren't enough to conclude the plates were bent.

In explaining the NTSB decision, Rosenker included internal correspondence that he called "a complete record of the deliberative discourse." That included a Jan. 17 memo from the directors of the Office of Highway Safety and the Office of Research and Engineering to the board arguing against a public hearing. That memo expresses concern that staff preparation for a hearing would delay the investigation.

Also, the memo says, "it has already taken significant negotiations to keep MnDOT and its WJE technical consultants within our investigation," referring to the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.

Any potential delay, such as holding a public hearing, risks MnDOT and the Federal Highway Administration "completing their modeling efforts without our control or input." That could leave the board in an "also-ran position," the memo says.

The board's vice chairman, Robert L. Sumwalt, who ultimately wrote the majority opinion to skip a public hearing, wrote a Feb. 7 memo to the director of the Office of Highway Safety warning that doing so could hurt the board's credibility.

"Through the process of conducting a public hearing," Sumwalt wrote, "the safety board exercises a show of accountability to the public that it is conducting a thorough and unbiased investigation."

The board's initial finding that the undersizing of gusset plates was "the critical factor" in the 40-year-old bridge's collapse have angered some Democrats, especially Oberstar. Meanwhile, the state's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, has viewed it as some vindication because the initial focus by critics had been on maintenance and upkeep.

A Feb. 25 memo from the Office of Highway Safety on the pros and cons of holding a public hearing includes a blunt discussion of the political subtext.

"At the moment, the state is willing to work within the framework of an NTSB investigation," the memo states. "However, if the state perceives that a delay in the final report or the appearance of persecution in a public forum will harm their interests, they may very well complete their investigation before the NTSB report is finished."

On the other hand, the memo says, "this accident is riddled with state and federal political commentary, and a public hearing can demonstrate the independence and nonpartisan approach of the NTSB."

The board ultimately voted on a party-line basis, with the three Republicans voting against a public hearing and the two Democrats voting to hold one.

Oberstar was unavailable for comment Wednesday, a spokesman said. In his letter to Rosenker last week, he wrote: "For the NTSB staff to characterize concerns as political and for you to concur in that view makes you appear to dismiss citizens' concerns as not worthy of serious consideration. This approach by a federal agency is very disturbing."

He also wrote that the public would welcome a discussion of how the bridge design was approved and why the bridge failed, among other questions. Rosenker said he agreed that such a discussion would be helpful, but said it would be held when the investigation is complete.

The Aug. 1 bridge collapse killed 13 people and injured 145.

MnDOT issued a statement late Wednesday to "clarify" news reports on the gusset plate photos taken in 2003.

Spokeswoman Lucy Kender said physical measurements would be necessary to support the conclusion that the plates were bent, and reports from years of inspections on the bridge made no mention of bowing.

"If a gusset plate had been visibly seen to be out of alignment, that would have been noted," she said. But Kender said she couldn't rule out that the plates were bent.

URS Corp., the consultant working for the state on the I35W bridge, took the photos. A report prepared for MnDOT includes a log that describes the condition of the bridge parts the consultant photographed. For the photo including the U10 gusset plate, it describes the area as in "good condition."

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