Bingo - Here's The Problem With The Minnesota Bridge

[MannyGoldstein]

From the front page of the NY Times web site:

"The eight-lane bridge that collapsed Wednesday had been considered outmoded for decades because a single failure of a structural part could bring the whole thing down."

This is insane. Structures like this should never be built so that a single point of failure brings them down. Moreover, they should fail gracefully - not catastrophically, as this bridge did. The first sign of trouble should be something obvious, but not dangerous.

So sad.

[KitchenWitch]

1. You are right - but the bridge was built and used and now the damage is done

I am sure they will not build the new bridge using the old design, but that is rather microscopic consolation to those who have been injured or lost loved ones.

[jobycom]

3. If you are lucky, they won't build the new bridge using the old design.

I just watched Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke." After a segment on how many ways the 17th Street Canal levee was poorly designed, inadequately built, and always one good storm away from failure, he interviewed an Army engineer who boasted that they would soon repair the levee to "Pre-Katrina" standards.

:cry:

Good luck to you folk up there. :hug:

[MannyGoldstein]

5. They Should Have Replaced Or Reinforced The Bridge Long Ago

Leaving something like that in place when you know it has a single point of failure is criminal. Even the moon shots in the 1960s and 1970s had very few single points of failure that could cause a catastrophic failure. A bridge should be a heck of a lot safer than a trip to the moon.

[marions ghost]

8. I would agree that this negligence is criminal.

n/t

[babylonsister]

2. And/but parts of the bridge stayed relatively in tact, which helped

a lot of people stay alive. Trying to find that silver lining, but 'outmoded for decades'? I wonder what other bridges are on that list? We should all know.

[liberal N proud]

4. Thousands

All over the country, as you drive on your way to work tomorrow, look at the bridges you cross or the overpasses you go under. Take a look at the steel, the concrete, look at the missing guard rails.


It will scare the hell out of you.

[Pithlet]

9. There is an overpass I drive over almost daily that scares the crap out of me.

Now I think I'll avoid it altogether. It looks extremely old and rusty, the concrete surface is crumbled, and when you're stopped at the left turn light while on it, the whole thing jumps up and down as cars whiz past you.

[babylonsister]

10. If this bridge was on a list, where's the list? I'd like to see it. nt

[OHdem10]

6. Another point---Nothing lasts forever--Bridge was 40 yrs old

Everything has a life span. Most of our infrastructure
is from 50s and 60s.--It is getting old and tired.

[soothsayer]

7. isn't I-35 part of the mexico to canada superhighway that will lead to

the formation of the north american union and the foul currency the Amero?

[babylonsister]

12. Perhaps. I live near an I-35, in TX.

But whatever vague thoughts this wrought, it's not front and center now.

[Blue_Roses]

11. yep

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1498731&mesg_id=1498731