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Author Topic: bridge collapse  (Read 5120 times)

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2013, 09:25:32 am »
This wasn't a case of failing infrastructure - an oversized truck hit one of the supports.
 
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/24/18465755-like-a-hollywood-movie-driver-survives-i-5-bridge-collapse-into-wash-river?lite

I would think that if one truck hitting one support is enough to take down a bridge it's till failing infrastructure. just not spontaneous failure.

Could be crappy engineering and/or construction defects.  But failing/poorly maintained infrastructure is more likely.

agreed on both points. I am not a structural engineer (IANASE?) but I would think that basic design/construction failure would likely have showed up much earlier in the bridges life span.
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Offline tcanova

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2013, 09:29:33 am »
In 2002 a tow barge hit a support of a bridge over the Arkansas River killing 14.  The barge driver blacked out and to make matters worse, a guy posing as a US army captain took charge of the disaster scene for two days!
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Offline Jimmy K

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2013, 09:54:22 am »
I would think that if one truck hitting one support is enough to take down a bridge it's till failing infrastructure. just not spontaneous failure.

Could be crappy engineering and/or construction defects.  But failing/poorly maintained infrastructure is more likely.
Surely, better maintanance might have helped. The article mentions that it was a "fracture critical" bridge - meaning that the bridge design would collapse if one part failed. I bet it's old engineering standards. There was probably a time when bridges weren't designed to take hits like that and they are now.
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2013, 10:06:38 am »
"Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state's bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington's 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."  Not good.
As far a I know, that's a pretty good grade compared to other states.  This is what decades of not investing in our infrastructure gets us.
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Offline nateo

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2013, 11:01:33 am »
As far a I know, that's a pretty good grade compared to other states.  This is what decades of not investing in our infrastructure gets us.

Careful now, only commies love bridges!
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2013, 11:57:56 am »
As far a I know, that's a pretty good grade compared to other states.  This is what decades of not investing in our infrastructure gets us.

Careful now, only commies love bridges!
;D Commies and people who like to cross rivers and lakes without getting wet, or getting on a boat of some sort.
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2013, 12:48:29 pm »
+1  ;D
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Offline HobsonDrake

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #22 on: May 24, 2013, 12:53:43 pm »
As a person who drives over another old bridge in the south of the state on a regular basis, I wonder if this shock will get the WA house to approve the monies to do the Colombia River Crossing.
Not looking forward to 3-5 years of major traffic but it needs to be done.
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #23 on: May 24, 2013, 01:14:43 pm »
There was also a failurea when a barge hit the South Padre Island Bridge on Sept 16, 2001. There are now stop lights that are activated if a wire carrying a signal is severed.

A good read is the latest by Henry Petroski, and he has a section on bridge failures. seems there is one that happens every 30-40 years, often due to unforeseen consequences as a bridge type is refined. His opinion is that the cable stayed bridges will be a cantidate for the next major failure.

http://www.amazon.com/Forgive-Design-Understanding-Failure/dp/0674065840



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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: bridge collapse
« Reply #24 on: May 24, 2013, 08:19:04 pm »
I was on my way to work this morning and I'm connecting to I5 in a few miles and see an electronic sign that says "I5 closed, use alternate routes".  I was thinking, what do you mean I5 is closed?  What's going on?

Then the sign changes to say "I5 closed at exit 227", which is where the bridge failed and is like 60 miles north of me.  What the hell?  If I was going that way, there is no decent alternate route.  You drive all the way up there, take some local detour around the failed bridge, then get back on I5.  Do I really need to plan that from 60 miles away?

Dumb.
Tom Schmidlin