Miami - FIU bridge collapse

[red-beard]

Miami FIU pedestrian bridge collapses, people trapped beneath | Miami Herald

At least 1 dead, 10 in hospital, 2 in critical condition. Not sure if they have found all the bodies.

[biosurfer1]

Just opened Saturday if I'm not mistaken. I'd say some engineers better get their ducks in a row, as well as the contractors.

[vash]

My thought go out to the families.

That is my biggest friggen nightmare. Damn

[DanielDudley]

Apparently failed to put on upper suspension cables. Suspension bridge without suspension.

[astrochex]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

Apparently failed to put on upper suspension cables. Suspension bridge without suspension.

Oh dear, that’s horrible. How could such an obvious element be left out?

I heard both pedestrians on the bridge and drivers on the road were victims.

[vash]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

Apparently failed to put on upper suspension cables. Suspension bridge without suspension.

No! Really.

[Crowbob]

The bridge had not yet been opened to the public. It was undergoing a stress test when it collapsed. Only workers were on it at the time. I believe there were two.

The rest of the casualties were inflicted upon the vehicular traffic below.

[Baz]

Didn't read the article but heard on the radio it wasn't supposed to be finished until next year so what Bob said above makes sense.....and I guess it failed the stress test to make an obvious point.....

[Scott Douglas]

What kind of stress engineer runs a stress test without shutting down traffic first?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

Just opened Saturday if I'm not mistaken. I'd say some engineers better get their ducks in a row, as well as the contractors.

This is the kind of problem I worked with in my second career.
An aircraft structural system failed, was the failure:
engineering? (Designed right)
Application? (installed as designed)
Materials? (where I came in - was it was made of the stuff it was supposed to be made of)
Use (did the user exceed the intended capacity)
They all should be investigated.

[dafischer]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

What kind of stress engineer runs a stress test without shutting down traffic first?

A now unemployed one.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

What kind of stress engineer runs a stress test without shutting down traffic first?

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.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

Just opened Saturday if I'm not mistaken. I'd say some engineers better get their ducks in a row, as well as the contractors.

Not open yet. Was still under construction.

[dewolf]

Imported Chinese steel.

[Pazuzu]

I taught there in 1999-2000, my office was (at that time) the closest building to that intersection. Now the campus is about twice as big, I can't believe how busy it is there.

[nota]

4 dead at 11pm news 8 critical
workers not pedestrians stress testing it
there is a small low pedestrian bridge near by over the canal
student housing on the other side of the canal + some shops

[red-beard]

There are 8 cars still crushed and not recovered.

[DanielDudley]

''This model of the finished bridge was posted in the comments along with this: "It was meant to be a two span cable stayed bridge with the tower between the spans and one span much longer. It looks like they had just put up one (longer) span without the supporting tension cables and their tower.

I bet they the strength of the long span be enough to support itself but were sorely mistaken."

No wonder it collapsed. They probably thought it would be okay without the cable stays but it certainly looks like that is not the case.''

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Sequence. Yeah, it matters.

Reminds me of one of the dunderhead Subcontractors on a project of mine - fire protection Sub. They "finished" the system, conducted a pressure test for leaks like they're supposed to per NFPA, then inexplicably went back and fiddled with something and proceeded to fill the system. Naturally the guy who had messed around with it AFTER the pressure test left a head off so when the system got filled, whoosh! Nice flood destroying a half million dollars of new plaster ceilings and other finishes, insulation and millwork below - not to mention a three month delay. I'm sure his insurance company loved him for that.

Yeah. That whole sequence thing.

[widgeon13]

I heard it was engineered by the same folks that did the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

How does that make you feel?