Specifically for I-35W, "photos from a June 2003 inspection of the bridge showed gusset-plate bowing" but apparently the inspectors didn't realize they needed to be watching for that.
"...inspectors did not routinely check that safety features were functional."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge...
I drove over that bridge not long before it collapsed, and marveled at how they had concrete and trucks lined up from one end to the other in a closed lane.
yeah that's what scares me most, infrastructure is built to the cheapest bidder that can satisfy safety requirement that often don't account for aging
I've recently passed under two (!) overpass that failed at different times due to lack of maintenance, and every time I'm in queue on top of a bridge it scares the heck out of me watching everyone tailgating each other instead of leaving some margin to the car ahead.
Could we use neural nets to help the inspectors?
Have drones with webcams circle the bridge. It would surely speed up the process and may alert to something the humans overlooked.