APNewsBreak: Contractor URS Corp. settles with state of Minn. for $5M in bridge collapse case

APNewsBreak: URS settles with Minn. in bridge case

MINNEAPOLIS — Contractor URS Corp. and the state of Minnesota reached a $5 million settlement Friday in the state’s lawsuit over the 2007 downtown Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people and injured 145 others.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation had hired URS to analyze the 40-year-old Interstate 35W bridge and recommend ways to shore it up before it fell. URS did not admit any liability or fault for the collapse, nor did the state.

In a statement, URS called the collapse a “tragedy,” but said it “was not involved in the design or building of the bridge, nor was it involved in any of the later construction work, including the resurfacing work being done when the bridge collapsed.”

URS and its insurers will pay $5 million under the agreement. In exchange, URS will be released from future claims by the state connected to the collapse. The agreement says the state may use all or a portion of the money to pay for construction of a permanent memorial to the 35W bridge collapse victims or other charitable use.

The company’s statement said the settlement allows it to avoid the cost and time of further litigation.

URS still faces scores of lawsuits by victims of the collapse. The survivors and families of those who died are not covered by Friday’s settlement.

The state didn’t cut ties to URS after the collapse. The transportation agency entered into more than $6 million in contracts with the company in the two years after the incident, including one signed four days before the state sued. URS was hired to do more bridge work for the state.