A giant engineering and construction company has agreed to pay a $52.4 million settlement in the 2007 Minnesota bridge collapse that killed 13 people in a rush-hour traffic disaster.
The settlement by URS Corp. of San Franciso will provide payments to the families of the dead along with 145 others who were hurt in the bridge failure. According to The Associated Press, the pact resolves the last major litigation brought by the victims.
The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge spanning the Mississipi River was one of the worst bridge failures in 30 years, and led to widespread concern over bridge safety, Bloomberg reports.
In a statement, URS said the settlement was not an “admission of liability or fault.”
“URS believes it is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders to resolve this matter and avoid the cost and distraction of protracted litigation,” the company said.
URS was not involved in the bridge’s design or construction, CNN reports. But the plaintiffs’ lawyers said URS failed to recommend improvements to the bridge when it evaluated the span’s structural integrity for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. That happened despite what the plaintiffs’ lawyers said were clear warning signs, such as steel connectors that were corroded and buckling.
All told, the State of Minnesota and two of its contractors will have paid out roughly $100 million to the victims and their families. That includes $36.6 million appropriated by Minnesota and $10 million from PCI Corp., which was doing resurfacing work at the time of the collapse.
