| | Associated Press
CONCORD, N.C. -- The state transportation department
announced Tuesday it will inspect privately owned pedestrian
bridges as crews began tearing down the rest of the Lowe's Motor
Speedway walkway that collapsed and injured more than 100 people.
Speedway officials worked on how to move fans from parking lots
across U.S. 29 to the track, with the collapsed walkway and another
one now out of commission. Qualifying races for the Coca-Cola 600
begin Wednesday. The headline NASCAR race Sunday is expected to
draw more than 190,000 people to the track.
The state DOT's Bridge Maintenance staff was instructed Tuesday
to contact the owners of all privately owned pedestrian bridges
over state roads and conduct immediate inspections of those
bridges, the department said. There are 10 privately owned bridges
over North Carolina roads, including the two at the speedway.
"We believe that immediate inspections of these facilities are
in the best interest of the public to ensure their safety," said
Transportation Secretary David McCoy.
An 80-foot section of the 320-foot walkway fell 17 feet onto the
highway after The Winston, a NASCAR all-star race, Saturday night
as fans crowded the bridge, trying to reach their cars. Corrosion
is suspected as the cause of the failure, but engineers are puzzled
that rust could have weakened a bridge that was just five years
old.
The speedway's other, 4-year-old walkway, 500 yards away, was
closed Monday after a rust spot was seen on exposed steel.
With both walkways out of commission, speedway officials
announced Tuesday they will create two new pedestrian crosswalks on
U.S. 29 before Wednesday's qualifying races begin for the Coca-Cola
600. There now is just one road-level crossing.
"We feel based on this plan it will minimize the inconvenience
for pedestrians and still provide a safe place to get to and from
the track," speedway spokesman Jerry Gappens said.
Forty-eight people remained hospitalized Tuesday with injuries
from the collapse. Two were listed in critical condition.
Tindall Corp. of Spartanburg, S.C., which made the slabs for the
walkway, sent an engineer and a private firm to investigate the
collapse. The track's own engineers also are investigating. No
state or federal agency is overseeing the inquiry because the track
owns the walkway.
"It's up to them to hire inspectors and to figure out what
happened, just as it was up to them to remove the debris from the
highway," said Don Idol, an assistant bridge inspection engineer
with the state Department of Transportation. "It's their bridge."
William Lowndes IV, Tindall's chief operating officer, said a
"double-T" design was employed in the construction of the failed
walkway. Wet concrete is poured around stretched steel cables to
make slabs. After the slabs dry, the tension on the cables is
released, strengthening the concrete.
The design is widely used for all kinds of structures, engineers
said.
"We don't believe there was anything in the design or
manufacture of the double-T itself that in any way contributed to
the cause of the failure," Lowndes said. "We don't know exactly
what did, but we are fairly confident that that was not a cause."
"I have never heard of a double-T cracking in the middle like
that," said Dan Falconer, engineering manager at the American
Concrete Institute in Farmington Hills, Mich. "It is one of the
most bizarre things I have ever seen."
All 11 cables buried in the concrete were corroded, causing the
bridge to bow and then snap, said Don Goins, the state's chief
engineer.
Officials said the walkway was designed to withstand 100 pounds
per square foot. The collapsed section, 16 feet wide by 80 feet
long, should have been able to bear 128,000 pounds.
Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said no more than 150
people -- about 22,500 pounds -- were on the section when it failed.
"Weight had no bearing on this whatsoever," he said.
Federal highway bridges and North Carolina state pedestrian and
highway bridges are inspected every two years, but the speedway was
under no inspection timetable. Track officials have been unable to
say when the bridge was last inspected.
| |
ALSO SEE
Speedway officials in charge of investigation
Little E enjoys first Winston to fullest
AUDIO/VIDEO
 The cause of the walkway's collapse has not yet been determined.
wav: 290 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
 |
