Faulty steel rods may have caused overpass collapse: report

The public inquiry in charge of investigating the Laval overpass collapse already has a document from specialists that suggests faulty construction may have been the cause, according to reports published in Montreal Thursday.

La Presse has reported the inquiry commission, headed by former Quebec premier Pierre Marc Johnson, received a briefing paper from Transport Qubec analysts that says the steel bars used to reinforce the De La Concorde overpass could have been installed in the wrong place when the span was built.

Five people died and six more were injured on Sept. 30 when the overpass, which spans Highway 19, cracked and plummeted to the road below, crushing several vehicles.

The inquiry commission is not confirming or denying the document's existence, but bridge experts suggest the theory it proposes is plausible.

"It was obvious that it may have been either the length of the bars that wasn't sufficient to strengthen the concrete, or possibly the spacing of the bars," said Hellen Christodoulou, a civil engineer with Gnie tudes, a private firm in Laval.

When she saw the footage of the collapsed overpass, Christodoulou said she knew right away that the problem originated in the base of the span, where there are supposed to be steel rod reinforcements.

"If it was a problem of the span [itself], then the span would collapse in two," Christodoulou explained.

The De La Concorde span was dismantled Oct. 7 after samples of the concrete rubble were removed for analysis.

Transport Qubec plans to take apart another overpass on Highway 19 as a precaution. The De Blois span was singled out as a potential problem because it was built at the same time as the De La Concorde overpass, and has the same design and structure.

It's not yet clear when the De Blois overpass will come down. Transport Qubec said it is waiting for the go-ahead from the inquiry.

Once that work is done transport officials estimate Highway 19 will reopen to traffic, although that won't happen until at least Oct. 20.

More overpass victims leave hospital

Two of the four overpass victims hospitalized with severe injuries at Montreal's Sacr-Coeur hospital have been released, officials confirmed.

The two remaining patients are now recovering in regular wards, a hospital official said.