"Faced with the evidence of the collapse, we can only conclude that the system in place to ensure that bridges are safe for public use has shortcomings that must be identified and corrected," said the investigating commission's 222-page report into the De la Concorde overpass collapse.
The transport ministry has responded with the announcement of a new agency specialising in the management of overpasses and bridges, a road network recovery plan, new ways of network monitoring and disemination of information.
The commission's report says that the research into the causes of the collapse made it possible to identify a risk that was not addressed by the standards in effect at the time of construction in the 1970s, or even by the current standards for the construction of thick slab bridges without shear reinforcement, in the presence of deteriorated concrete. The commission also established the chain of causes that led to the collapse, and found that the collapse could not be attributed to any single entity, organisation or person. However it "has clearly demonstrated the regrettably inadequate role played by some companies and some of the individuals involved in the construction and supervision of the de la Concorde overpass nearly 40 years ago".
