Nearly seven months after the deadly Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse of August 2007, the Minnesota House has approved $40 million in compensation to the victims.
In a press release, Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said the fund will be distributed among the victims, but is a small measure compared to what would be spent repairing the bridge and small compared to the losses of victims and their families.
“The replacement of the steel and concrete of the bridge is $400 million, in rough terms,” Winkler stated.”The federal government is paying for that replacement. Members, we’re paying 10 percent of that to help rebuild the lives of the people who were affected by the tragedy. It’s a small price to pay for the state of Minnesota, and it’s our obligation to do so.”
Current Minnesota law will cap allocations to each victim at $1 million; however, a version snaking its way through the Senate will limit payments to $400,000 per victim, though some survivors of the tragedy say medical bills alone surpass $1 million.
While the state works through the kinks, experts are working to reduce the risk of another bridge collapse through investigations and research. Companies such as Material Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: MTTG) are being relied upon for their technological advances in metal fatigue detection. The company’s proprietary fatigue technology, Electrochemical Fatigue Sensor, is applicable not only to detect fatigue in bridges, but also ships, railways, nuclear facilities, mining equipment and more.
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