Six people died and 10 others were injured when the 53m span of the FIU pedestrian bridge collapsed onto traffic while under construction in March 2018. The investigation began immediately. At the time, NTSB enforced a public records restriction on the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). The NTSB has now released the entire docket of more than 6,000 pages of documents on its website, making all records publicly available.
In May, FDOT was able to reach an agreement with the NTSB to release the meeting minutes and other restricted records. The USA's Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) has also been investigating the accident and published a report in June (links open in new tabs).
Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has issued a statement welcoming the publication of the records. FDOT Secretary Kevin Thibault said: “Since the enactment of the restriction on release of public documents by the NTSB, the department has worked with the NTSB to proactively have the restriction lifted. The department has always maintained that the public is entitled to them. We support full transparency by providing all documents related to the March 2018 tragedy that impacted the South Florida community and our entire state. Lives were lost and others have been changed forever, and we know these families, as well as the citizens of Florida, deserve answers and want closure.”
The records can be found on the NTSB website (link opens in new tab).
NTSB will be holding a board meeting next week to determine the probable cause of the collapse.