Engineer contradicts own testimony at Laval overpass hearings

A Quebec structural engineer who supervised repairs onthe Laval overpass that later collapsed and killed five people contradicted his own testimony about the work at the inquiry probing the structure's failure.

Tiona Sanogo, a Transport Quebec engineer responsible for repairing the Concorde overpass 15 years ago, toldthe inquiry commission Thursday that he tried to correct problems with the structure by ordering extra steel bars installed to reinforce the concrete viaduct.

His contentions on Thursday contradicted his testimony the previous day, in which he said he never noticed any structural defects on the overpass while he was assigned to oversee its repairs.

On Thursday, Sanogo told the commission he ordered a technician in 1992 to add corrective bars to reinforce improperly installed steel weight-distribution stirrups already embedded in the overpass.

The discrepancy was pointed out by commission head Pierre Marc Johnson, who interjected during Sanogo's testimony to tell him no additional steel bars were found in the rubble of the collapsed overpass.

The commission assigned to investigate the deadly September 2006 collapse has already heard testimony that the overpass was not built according to blueprint specifications and was missing steel reinforcement bars.

Sanogo's testimony was further challenged when the contractor hired to do the repairs told the commission that he doesn't remember installing or being asked to installreinforcements.

"If he [Sanogo] told me to do it, I would have done it, because that's what he paid me for," Primo Scapin, an employee with DIMS Construction told the commission.

Work orders, receipts and other documents from the repair job have been destroyed.

The overpass commission headed by Johnson has been asked to determine the causes of Quebec's Concorde overpass collapse on Highway 19 last fall.

Part of the concrete structure collapsed on the road below crushing several cars, killing five people and injuring six more.

The commission's hearing will wrap up later in May with a final report due in October 2007.