Expert: Texas A&M athletic center has flawed design

DALLAS -- An engineering firm hired by Texas A&M University

to study its tentlike athletic complex says the facility wasn't

built to withstand the maximum winds prescribed by the building

code.

The analysis by the Houston structural engineering firm Haynes

Whaley Associates suggests that the McFerrin Athletic Center was

built according to a flawed design. That design is similar to that

of the collapsed Dallas Cowboys' practice facility.

Both were built by Summit Structures LLC of Allentown, Pa.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Texas

Public Information Act show that Haynes Whaley believed the

McFerrin Center couldn't withstand the 90 mph winds specified by

national standards. Summit has added a series of cables to the

facility's steel frame in response, the documents show.