Mayor Rybak criticizes Pawlenty's slow response

Federal transportation safety officials are blaming a design flaw for the collapse of the I-35W bridge.

This afternoon, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Mark Rosenker announced that the plates which hold the massive steel beams of the bridge together were too thin. However, he says investigators still don't know what caused them to fail.

Following the announcement, Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak told CNN he was pleased that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has pledged one-time funds for infrastructure maintenance. But he criticized the governor for not acting sooner.

"Infrastructure isn't solved with one-time fixes many months after incidents occur. It takes long-term investments. Frankly, when you recognize what happened here. When you look at the fact that people looked in the eyes of the families of these victims and said they're going to do what it took to make sure it never happened again. We need to deliver on that promise," says Rybak.

Gov. Pawlenty responded to the NTSB findings in a statement. Pawlenty said he hopes Rybak and other Democrats will "set aside partisan attacks and work with us to address our state's infrastructure needs in a constructive manner."

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide