A pedestrian bridge at Florida International University gave way early Thursday afternoon. NBC Miami news reports several fatalities, multiple people injured and crushed vehicles.
Currently, rescue teams have been deployed to recover victims and over 100 search-and-rescue members work into the evening. “We have multiple victims. The final number has not been determined yet,” says a spokesperson of Miami-Dade Police Department and Fire Rescue in their press conference.
Installed on March 10 as an overpass for pedestrians to walk across the multi-lane Tamiami Trail, the design of the bridge was supposed to withstand strong hurricanes. It was scheduled to open to the public in 2019.
Last year, the U.S. infrastructure almost failed an assessment given by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCFE). Assessing everything from dams to transit, the US earned a C-plus grade for the structural soundness of its bridges. According the ASCFE infrastructure report card, there is a $123 billion backlog of bridge repair.
Rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure has been on the agendas of presidential campaigns over the past 10 years. During his bid, President Donald Trump promised to allocate $1 trillion to rebuild, but released another plan last month to only spend $200 billion for $1.5 trillion in repairs.
[give_form id=”545″]
