Bridge Safety Expert Available for Comment on Minneapolis Steel Bridge Collapse

August 2, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas—University of Texas at Austin structural engineers from the Cockrell School of Engineering are available to discuss bridge safety issues related to the collapse yesterday of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis.

Dr. Todd Helwig, Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory, will be available for interviews after 10 a.m. today.

Helwig researches the stability, design and behavior of steel bridges and curved box girders. He is studying ways to improve methods of bracing steel bridges to reduce costs and improve the bridges' long-term behavior. These studies rely on traditional and novel mechanisms to brace bridge systems. He is also investigating the effects of pre-existing imperfections in bridge components and the impact of temperature changes on steel structure's behavior.

Interviews can be conducted in front of an isolated bridge with a different type of steel support system from the one in Minneapolis. The stability of that test bridge is being evaluated at the Ferguson Lab on the university's J.J. Pickle Research Campus.

For more information contact: Barbra Rodriguez, 512-589-8561 (mobile) or 512-471-7541.