On January 20th, 2017 a top tension chord of the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge was discovered to be completely fractured.  On the morning of the 21st, Dr. Robert J. Connor, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of the S-BRITE Center was called by engineering consultants working for the PA and NJ Turnpikes to assist in the failure investigation and to help develop immediate inspection and long-term retrofit strategies.

Presently, Dr. Connor and his team at Purdue have been working with Modjeski and Masters of Pennsylvania and others in the development of NDE testing strategies to ensure the inspections are highly reliable.  He is also assisting them with the material sampling plan, testing, and long-term assessments of the bridge for the future once placed back into service.  Dr. Connor is routinely called upon to assist in such bridge failure investigations across the United States.