More to Die in Minneapolis
Our Federal Highway Administrator is on the case in Minneapolis, investigating why the 35W bridge collapsed and making sure it's rebuilt speedily and safely. And the man knows plenty about infrastructure disasters -- because he used to be one of the guys in charge of Massachusetts' own Big Dig!
J. Richard Capka, formerly with the Army Corps of Engineers, was the chief executive of the Big Dig from 2000 until 2002, when he was fired for approving huge severance payments to some attorneys without consulting the Turnpike Authority's board. He collected his own decently sized severance check when the board fired him.
Then he was appointed Federal Highway Administrator, because his handling of the Big Dig was the very model of efficient government public works management. Four years later, a woman was killed at the site after some concrete and steel fell on her.
In Capka's reliable hands, the 35W bridge recovery ought to take twenty years, cost $20 billion, and kill another couple dozen people.