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FL agency: Cracks were found in bridge days before collapse

FL agency: Cracks were found in bridge days before collapse
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(RNN) - The Florida Department of Transportation was left a voicemail alerting them to "cracking" two days before a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University.

The voicemail was left by an employee, W. Denney Pate, at the FIGG, engineering firm that designed the bridge. The transportation authority described him as "lead engineer responsible for the FIU pedestrian bridge project."

LISTEN HERE: Voicemail left by engineer responsible for collapsed bridge project alerting agency to cracking 

"Calling to, uh, share with you some information about the FIU pedestrian bridge and some cracking that’s been observed on the north end of the span, the pylon end of that span we moved this weekend," he said.

He added however it wasn't a major concern. He said that "from a safety perspective we don’t see that there’s any issue there so we’re not concerned about it from that perspective."

But, Pate said, "obviously the cracking is not good and something’s going to have to be, ya know, done to repair that."

The voicemail was left on a landline according to FDOT on Tuesday. No one at the department heard it until Friday.

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