ABSTRACT
August 1, 2007 is a day that most engineers will not forget for a long time to come. The collapse of the I-35W steel truss bridge sent shock waves through the engineering community (Figure 1). Remarkably just 3 days after the collapse the Minnesota Department of Transportation issued a request for qualifications from design/build teams interested in constructing a replacement bridge. Four days after this a short list of teams was issued. By October 8, 2007 the team of Flatiron Constructors, Manson Construction and Figg Bridge Engineers had received their notice to proceed with the replacement structure (Van Hampton, 2007).
