A newly-installed pedestrian bridge has collapsed over a busy roadway at Florida International University, with at least four deaths and nine people hospitalized.

• FIU pedestrian bridge touted by university collapses
• Bridge span had just been installed Saturday
• Florida Gov. Scott cancels Sanford appearance to head to FIU
• Multiple vehicles were seen crushed underneath span
  

As of 8:15 p.m. first responders from multiple agencies were still working in search and rescue mode to locate victims of the collapse. 

During a press conference late Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott, Senator Marco Rubio and FIU President Mark Rosenberg joined representatives from county and city agencies responding to the incident in expressing their condolences and their commitment to first finding and helping victims, then investigating what caused the collapse.

Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Dave Downey reported that a little over 100 first responders from multiple agencies, including Miami-Dade Police and the Florida Highway Patrol, responded to the scene to aid victims. Downey also confirmed that crews would remain in search and rescue mode on site until they were satisfied there was no one else left to help.

The Florida Highway Patrol added that they expected the stretch of SW 8th Street between SW 107th Avenue and SW 117th Avenue to be closed for an extended period, first for search and rescue operations, then later for clean up and an investigation into the cause of the collapse.

None of the victims of the collapse have yet been identified.

The 174-foot, 950-ton span fell Thursday afternoon at the university's main Miami-area campus. Video shows vehicles underneath the bridge were hit.

Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Alejandro Camacho initially told CNN that "five to six vehicles" were crushed underneath the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge, which was just installed Saturday. But authorities later said at a presser that there are eight vehicles underneath the bridge. 

A Kendall Regional Medical Center official said they received 10 level one trauma patients from the bridge collapse ranging from 20 to 50 years of age. Two patients were reported to be in "extremely critical" condition, while eight others had traumatic injuries but are all stable. No brain injuries were reported.

The hospital said they aren't expecting any more critical patients and that other injured people may be at other hospitals. 

FHP urged people to stay out of the area of SW 107th Ave. and SW 117th Ave. 

Florida Gov. Rick Scott canceled a Thursday afternoon appearance in Sanford to head straight to FIU to be briefed by local law enforcement and university officials on the collapse of the bridge.

According to the Florida Department of Transportation, the bridge was an FIU project, not an FDOT project. The designer of the bridge, the contractor and the Construction Engineering and Inspection (CEI) company were all under contract with the university.

FDOT named the designer of the bridge as FIGG Engineering. The contractor who both built and installed the bridge was MCM Construction, and the CEI is Bolton Perez and Associates.

FDOT also specified in a media release that "due to the unique characteristics of the design of the bridge, an independent, secondary design check was required," and that it was the university's responsibility to select a firm to conduct that review. Under the terms of FIU's agreement with the state, the university was to select an FDOT pre-qualified firm to perform the review.

The firm FIU selected, Louis Berger, was not FDOT pre-qualified to conduct the review.

"First of its kind"

The pedestrian bridge was called a "first of its kind" by FIU in a story published Saturday, March 10 on its website. According to a fact sheet about the bridge on FIU's website, it was designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and was supposed to last more than 100 years, CNN reported. It cost $14.2 million to build. It funded as part of a $19.4 million grant from the Department of Transportation, the fact sheet said.

"FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplishes our mission beautifully," FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg said in the FIU story. "We are filled with pride and satisfaction at seeing this engineering feat come to life and connect our campus to the surrounding community where thousands of our students live."

FIU touted the bridge as the first to be constructed entirely of self-cleaning concrete which, when exposed to sunlight, "the titanium dioxide in the concrete captures pollutants and turns it bright white, reducing maintenance costs," it said in the story.

Many people have started to share their condolences on social media. Sen. Bill Nelson offered to help in any way he can and said he was going to call Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to ask the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate what went wrong.

Construction on the bridge, designed by FIGG Bridge Engineers and built by MCM, began last spring and was expected to be completed in early 2019.  

The NTSB confirmed it is sending a team to investigate the bridge collapse.

Information from the Associated Press and CNN contributed to this story.