The Scott administration doubled down on its contention that it carried no blame for the collapse one day after the tragedy. | Getty Documents: Scott administration had long-running role in collapsed FIU bridge

TALLAHASSEE — The Scott administration quickly worked to distance itself from the collapse of a Florida International University pedestrian bridge that left six dead, but documents from the state’s transportation department and the university paint a different picture.

From the selection of the politically powerful firm that led the project to the days leading up to the collapse, the Florida Department of Transportation, overseen by Gov. Rick Scott, had direct involvement in a project whose collapse has rocked South Florida and sparked a federal investigation.


“It’s not an FDOT project,” Scott said during a press conference the night the bridge fell. “It’s an FIU project.”

As recently as September 2016, though, more than 10 months after the selection of the firms to design and build the project, his transportation agency was reviewing all construction-related material.

“The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is currently reviewing 100% of CD [construction documents] for the bridge foundation, roadway and superstructure,” read a Sept. 1, 2016 agenda for the FIU Board of Trustees Finance and Audit Committee.

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During that meeting, the committee received an update on the “University City Prosperity Project.” The idea behind the project was to build a pedestrian bridge over SW 8th Street connecting the university and the city of Sweetwater.

The department quickly sought to distance itself from the March 15 collapse, sending out a “preliminary fact sheet” hours after the disaster saying it was a "local agency project, not a Florida Department of Transportation project."

Even under the department’s own guidelines, though — under the so-called local agency projects they administer — FDOT has oversight responsibility.

“The FDOT is not relieved of oversight and monitoring responsibilities by certifying a Local Agency,” reads the department’s Local Agency Program Manual.

POLITICO provided FDOT a list of questions along with all documents used as part of this story. The department in response issued a statement saying it “coordinates” with certified local agencies, but said it was not involved in specific details.

FDOT’s “Structure Design Office does not review the engineering calculations or perform an in-depth review of the engineering decisions or administer the construction of the project,” read the statement, which was much more nuanced than the agency’s original public statements on the project.

From the start, the department’s local agency manual indicates it should have had a role in the process. District FDOT staff must “review all back-up documentation” after a bid is awarded to the vendor, and it must “review and concur with award recommendation in writing.”

In November 2015, FDOT also sent a letter specifically concurring with FIU’s decision to hire design-build team MCM-FIGG Bridge Engineers, Inc.

MCM has long had local political ties and is also a player on the statewide level. During the time MCM, a Miami-based firm, was seeking the bid, the company gave nearly $50,000 in contributions to Scott or his affiliated political committee, according to state campaign finance records. The decision to hire the firm was made by FIU, but Scott’s transportation agency was involved from the very beginning of that process. It's among $250,000 in state political contributions the company has given in recent election cycles.

The Miami Herald also reported last week that FDOT was part of the committee that selected MCM-FIGG, attended regular meeting on the project and had input on design and location, had input on dozens of planning details and had officials at a meeting with engineers hours before the bridge collapsed.

The Scott administration doubled down one day after the tragedy on its contention that it carried no blame for the collapse, issuing a statement that an engineer from FIGG, a lead firm on the project, called an FDOT official two days before the collapse indicating “cracking is not good and something’s going to have to be, ya know, done to repair that.”

The engineer stressed that he did not see any concerns about a collapse.

“From a safety perspective, we don’t see that there’s any issue there,” read the transcript of a voicemail FDOT released.

The department hammered the firm for the tragic mishap.

“The responsibility to identify and address life-safety issues and property communicate them is the sole responsibility of the FIU design build team,” read the FDOT statement. “At no point during any of the communications above did FIGG or any member of the FIU design build team ever communicate a life-safety issue.”

The statement also noted the firms never requested a permit to get full closure of the street below during construction of the walkway.

FIGG declined comment for this story, while MCM and FIU said they could not comment because of an ongoing federal investigation.

“As you know, the National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a thorough investigation,” said Maydel Santana, an FIU spokeswoman. “We are cooperating [with] and assisting authorities fully in the effort to understand what happened.”

