TOLEDO, Ohio — Officials believe long-term deterioration was the cause of last week’s bridge collapse that blocked Norfolk Southern’s main line through Toledo for more than six hours.
The Toledo Blade reports six beams failed on the Maumee Avenue Bridge about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, dropping concrete slabs onto the rail line below. [See “Bridge collapses onto NS main line; no injuries reported,” Trains News Wire, April 4, 2019.] It cited a report from a local engineering firm citing the likelihood of long-term deterioration as the cause.
“It is possible that the failure of one of the beams caused a chain reaction to adjacent deficient beams,” the report said.
A Norfolk Southern spokeswoman said the railroad assisted with the cleanup and resumed operations about 7:20 p.m. She declined to say if the railroad might bill the city for its costs from the incident.
