It started as an idea for a footbridge to get college students safely over the busy Tamiami Trail.
But fueled by millions of dollars in available federal stimulus grants, Florida International University's doomed pedestrian bridge morphed into something far more ambitious: A gleaming testament to FIU's lofty institutional aspirations and the linchpin in a grand plan to create a true college town in the neighboring working-class suburb of Sweetwater.
As FIU's ambitions grew, the need to shape a uniquely memorable bridge drove key engineering decisions, resulting in a striking but unorthodox concrete structure. But the design hid a fatal flaw that its designers and reviewers failed to recognize, according to experts who have examined plans and mathematical calculations for the project.
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.