Reg said...

> maxine in ri wrote:
>
>> This morning they're saying that the design was one that (hopefully)
>> was not repeated very often. No pylons, and no suspension supports
>> for a large chunk of the span, just the roadbed and beams under it for
>> support. My guess is the current work which had lanes closed put too
>> much stress on one side of the highway. Lots of barge traffic in the
>> area, so they didn't want to impede or put too many obstacles in the
>> way. Now they have all that nice rubble to clear out (while looking
>> for the ~50 missing cars/people) which will impede barge traffic for a
>> loooong time.
>
> I don't think the work on the road surface had anything to do with
> it. Cutting down the net amount of traffic would result in less stress
> on the structure, not more.
>
> I think this event will reveal some fundamental flaws in their
> inspection regime. Whatever caused it, whether it's erosion
> of the pylons (known as scouring, it has caused collapses
> before. A major incident occurred in upstate NY) or deterioration
> of the structure itself, it should have been caught by their normal
> inspection regime.


You certainly have to hope it wasn't gross negligence on the part of bridge
inspectors and/or owners.

A restaurant at the end of a pier in Philly collapsed into the Delaware
river killing several diners. A report claimed inspectors warned the two
restaurant owners that the pier was unstable and the court found the owners
guilty of negligence. Six years later, this year, the two owners were
sentenced to just months in jail for what amounts to murder, imho.

Doesn't justice SUCK sometimes?!!

God bless the lost souls of the 35 W bridge collapse.

Andy