15. I-90 Mississippi River Dresbach Bridge Donated by: Ames Construction in cooperation with Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Original Location: Over Mississippi River between La Crosse, ...

Abstract: Past earthquakes have shown that the considerable in-plane strength of most bridge superstructures is not always sufficient to prevent damage to components of steel plate girder ...

But there also was much talk of the project’s black eye, as a consequence of brittle fractures of the bottom flanges of two bridge-like built-up plate girders that span 87 ft over Fremont Street.

On the southern girder, the crack only propagated through half the bottom flange. In both girders, top flanges, which are level, and the tapered bottom flanges are made from 4-in.-thick plates.