MnDOT officials said that if the bridge was simply inspected, the benefit would be: "Don't have to pay for steel, stockpile steel, or install steel."The downside of such a decision, MnDOT officials acknowledged in the meeting, was that "If a crack is found it will take 4 months to order steel and reinforce the bridge, and the bridge will be closed to traffic for this duration. But there is a further risk that the damage is beyond fixing, and the bridge will have to be condemned. This means 35W will be closed for a minimum 5 years until the new bridge is finished."
If they only had Dick Cheney on board, they could have refused to release those damning documents.
It seesm that the decision they came to was to repair the bridge, but then an unexpected expense came up, and they changed their minds. An apology was sent to one of the engineers on the project.
"We regret the additional work this has caused you and others in the district," Peterson wrote in an e-mail, "but I'm sure you agree that based on this new information it [is] appropriate that we postpone the project until we can determine if another option may [be] as safe and a more cost effective approach."[...]
[At] least three internal documents suggest that money was a consideration.
I don't know if the engineer did indeed agree at that time, but I dare say they are now going to be spending a whole lot more money in lawsuits and rebuilding than they would have paid to go ahead and repair it. A whole lot more.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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