Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Douglas
What kind of stress engineer runs a stress test without shutting down traffic first?
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A soon-to-be unemployed and bankrupt one.
The Zilwaukee Bridge in Michigan just north of Saginaw on I-75 was the longest pre-cast concrete open span bridge at the time it was built, I think by a German company. After recently having been opened for traffic, it cracked. One section dropped 2 or 3 feet just like a cracked concrete sidewalk except that it was many lanes wide and 100's of feet over a river.
Ironically, the bridge was built to accommodate gigantic freighters delivering fuel, steel and other raw materials via Saginaw Bay to the automotive industry whose bottom dropped out before the bridge was complete.
It was flawed, very expensive and obsolete before it even opened. My mom refused to cross it, forcing dad to drive the long way around for years and years.