Florida bridge failure

Florida Bridge collapse 

I heard on the radio yesterday they erected the bridge on Saturday then went to tighten the cables a few days later and down it went. Surely this wasn't the case but I hope it wasn't somebody took a cable loose prematurely and down it went. I can't imagine trying to live with that

I'd have ALL the 'engineers' who signed off on it up on murder charges. And I'm going EASY on them !!! With today's 'technology' and computers there is ZERO EXCUSE for those people dying !! A WHOLE lot of people need to be held ACCOUNTABLE.

jaybmiller wrote: I'd have ALL the 'engineers' who signed off on it up on murder charges. And I'm going EASY on them !!! With today's 'technology' and computers there is ZERO EXCUSE for those people dying !! A WHOLE lot of people need to be held ACCOUNTABLE.

Alberta Phil wrote: We had a road bridge built here a couple of years ago to replace a perfectly adequate one that was over 100 years old.

I was under the impression this 'high tech' bridge was built offsite ,then hauled in, lifted,rotated and sat onto the 2 support columns(though not secured to them). If this is correct, the bridge is nothing more than a simple beam, a dang heavy one, especially for just people to walk on. I'm thinking it  'should' have already been 'post tensioned' or whatever the jargon is to make it stong. Yeesh they somehow moved it from 'A' to 'B' so perhaps it wasn't hauled properly(say 3 point support((ends and middle)) and something went wrong inside it. I've seen far larger pieces made and installed  and those bridges are still standing. Since the media here changes feet to metres( usually wrong) or they mix the two, reports here are confusing but again, I'm led to believe this thing was 100' long and weighed 950 tons ! That alone sounds bad to me as the two end columns need to support 500 tons each. Have to wonder how deep they drilled to find solid bedrock. Another isssue I saw was the uncoated rebar. I don't know how salty the air is there,but I KNOW up here CaCl used in winter EATS rebar and destroys bridges. Water + salt = saltwater, seeps into porus concrete, finds rebar, turns steel into rust and expands making bigger cracks, makes it worse, repeats, then gee the bridge failed .... 3 local ones here have been 'rebuilt' since 1967 yet the 100 year old dam took the jerks 2 weeks to break apart!
I'd like to know if there is a real 'test' bridge somewhere of this design, that's been erected and monitored, or if this was approved solely based upon a 'computer simulation'. If only a simulation, then I understand exactly WHY it failed. I deal with simulators everyday and NONE can properly simulate the REAL World, NONE.
Someone has to be made accountable..this was NOT an accident.

There is no alternative but to build bridges in major metropolitan areas using ABC (Accelerated Bridge Construction). Have you ever driven in Miami at rush hours? It is a giant parking lot with all highways open. Imagine closing down a major highway. That's why most of their construction is done at night.

cuz someone would hit the center support and prolly gits killed! we always observed at our office, that if there was anything close to a roadway....it's gonna get hit by someone in a vehicle! one really weird accident comes to mind, the only power pole in a several acre area on top of a steep embankment, a van went off the road, climbed the embankment (about 70 ft on about a 45 degree angle) and hit that pole!

the local phone company buried their line past a buddies driveway, and they put one of them above ground junction boxes right beside the driveway. he went in and told them they gotta move it. they said it had to be there! so when he pulled out of his driveway with his big disk, guess what gots hit and bent to chit? they moved it!

shameless dude wrote: cuz someone would hit the center support and prolly gits killed! we always observed at our office, that if there was anything close to a roadway....it's gonna get hit by someone in a vehicle! one really weird accident comes to mind, the only power pole in a several acre area on top of a steep embankment, a van went off the road, climbed the embankment (about 70 ft on about a 45 degree angle) and hit that pole!