Bent Gusset Plates Close Another Minnesota Bridge.

The article reports that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) officials has shut down a 51-year-old continuous steel-deck-truss arch bridge after inspectors found bent gusset plates. The officials are now working to expedite an estimated $30-million bridge replacement originally scheduled for bid letting in 2010. According to MnDOT Commissioner Bob McFarlin, the 889-foot-long, 70-foot-wide Minnesota Highway 23 DeSoto Bridge, is classified as fracture-critical but is not rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.