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An engineering firm that studied the Interstate 35W bridge should have found the crucial flaw that led to the collapse of the span in downtown Minneapolis, the state claims in a lawsuit filed just ahead of the two-year anniversary of the disaster.

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In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its bearings.

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Since 1993, the bridge was inspected annually by Mn/DOT, although no inspection report was completed in 2007, due to the construction work.

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According to a 2001 study by the civil engineering department of the University of Minnesota, cracking had been previously discovered in the cross girders at the end of the approach spans.

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In 2005, the bridge was again rated as "structurally deficient"

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The I-35W bridge ranked near the bottom of federal inspection ratings nationwide. The scale used was a "sufficiency rating" which ranges from the highest score, 100, to the lowest score, zero. In 2005 the bridge was given a rating of 50, indicating that replacement may have been in order. Out of over 100,000 heavily used bridges, only about 4% scored below 50. On a separate measure, the I-35W bridge was rated "structurally deficient," but was deemed to have met "minimum tolerable limits to be left in place as it is."

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In internal Mn/DOT documents, bridge officials talked about the possibility of the bridge collapsing and worried that it might have to be condemned.