jesus, how does something that went up a week ago just collapse? The engineering company is fucked.
Live video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISOEBbwirRg
This is the school I go to. Thankfully it's spring break so there isn't nearly as much people on campus as usual. Feels really surreal though.
Holy shit, the way some of those cars are crushed under it is absolutely horrifying.
apparently the bridge was brand new and hadn't yet been opened to the public.
https://twitter.com/FIU/status/972529770683564033
At least that means that no one was walking on it. Unfortunate that something they intended to improve safety ended up taking lives. Are engineers/engineering companies held liable for this? Is there like a Hippocratic oath for civil engineers?
I'm not entirely sure this is true, but someone just told me that the bridge wasn't supposed to open until 2019. Looking at the article now, that's apparently the case.
I was talking to my father about this and he said that any articles published that boasted this bridge and both its design and swiftness of construction is now getting pulled down.
this is terrible, and for not even being up a week someones ass is grass
Some insight into the construction of the bridge:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article204506084.html
Instant bridge? Not quite, but in a single morning Florida International University dropped a new elevated pedestrian span into place over the Tamiami Trail to provide students a safe route over the perilous roadway for the first time.
Once it’s finished in early 2019, the new pedestrian bridge will link FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus directly to the small suburban city of Sweetwater, where the university estimates 4,000 of its students live.
The rapid span installation was the result of months of preparation. The bridge’s main 174-foot span was assembled by the side of the Trail while support towers were built at either end.
The 950-ton span was then picked up, moved and lowered into place by special gantry cranes at the intersection of Southwest 109th Avenue in an operation that lasted several hours Saturday morning. A section of the Trail, also designated as Southwest Eighth Street, was closed to traffic Friday evening for the bridge installation, and will remain shut until 5 a.m. Monday.
The innovative installation method significantly reduced risks to workers, pedestrians and motorists and minimized traffic disruptions, FIU said. The architecturally distinctive, cable-supported bridge is the product of a collaboration between MCM Construction and FIGG Bridge Design, the firm responsible for the iconic Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay.
Students and faculty have long been clamoring for a bridge at the 109th Street crossing, where students on foot have to get across seven lanes of jam-packed traffic that divide the campus from Sweetwater. Though FIU provides shuttles, many students prefer to walk. In August, FIU undergraduate Alexis Dale was hit and killed by a motorist while crossing the intersection.
The $14.2 million bridge, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, also includes new sidewalks and a plaza. The project will also boast benches, tables, shade and even Wi-Fi. It’s all part of a broader FIU-led “prosperity” project that aims to curb traffic congestion in the area and help Sweetwater improve its downtown, which sits just north of the bridge.
Building bridges and student safety is their mission? Mission failed then, I guess.
My mom's got Fox on downstairs and they had a witness call in who was slinging some serious allegations. He claimed that the constructor workers were lifting something with the large crane you see in the pictures and that it dropped the object onto the bridge which caused the collapse. Which is why one half of the bridge is on the ground crushed and the other half is intact leaning up against its perch. He said the construction workers moved the crane back after the accident. Hard to know if true but if it is, oh boy that company is in trouble.
https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/974362119473958912
You can see the big crane and how the arm is directly over the part that's the most damaged. Seems plausible?
I'm a student at this university. I don't know anyone who was hurt yet, but I'm just glad we're on spring break. ABC News anchor claimed there might've been a stress test being done some time near the collapse. We'll have to wait for reliable details.
Heard about a possible stress test too. Why on earth would they do such a thing while there are people driving under it? Wouldn't it make sense that it might fall apart should it fail this stress test?
Who the fuck stress-tests a bridge with moving traffic underneath
Atleast one confirmed dead
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/miami-bridge-collapse/index.html
To think some of them were still alive, absolutely horrifying
Just to quickly chime in. Professional engineers are bound by a code of ethics, they're all fairly similiar based on what your engineering society is IMechE, ASME etc. As you expect they're all about upholding a certain level of integrity. Don't doctor your data/designs to the detriment of a client etc. 'Common sense' if you will.
The innovative installation method significantly reduced risks to workers, pedestrians and motorists and minimized traffic disruptions, FIU said.
I feel like such a dick for laughing at this but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioC61QW7SHQ
One person died trying to cross that road so they decided to put that bridge in. Now the bridge killed 6+ people.
I'm not sure about America, but in most of Canada engineering is self-regulated. Meaning, if you fuck up like this, it's a body of your peers that will investigate and penalize you (and this is mandated by the same legislation that allows engineering to be self-regulated).
Also in Canada, we have the iron ring tradition, which is similar to the Hippocratic oath, however it is given to all engineering graduates rather than only civil engineers.
Did these guys literally drop a bridge that's supposed to be suspension-supported without the fucking suspension cables in place.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/wwwt0d/picture204506074/alternates/FREE_1140/IMG_View-1-comp__1__7_1_P9C6OBGT_L337097734
Like please tell me that this is just a render from some previous iteration of the design and they didn't stress-test (?!?!?!?) a bridge with none of its intended support structure.
Yep. Only half the bridge was in place and the span was unsupported in the middle. Wonder why they didn't close a lane and keep one of those temporary supports in there like AvE said in the video above.
One of the comments to the Simply Explained Bridge Collapse video said that the cable was only needed to limit vibration, and that it passes strength checks without them(?).
I found this video of CCTV footage of the collapse (0:41)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNgAEQoAyg
It look to me like the collapse started at the last diagonal strut where it connects to the canopy.
Reading through more of the comments in that video, you may be correct in saying the suspension cables on that bridge are not necessary to hold it up. The failure could have occured when they were post-tensioning the internal cables mentioned by AvE in the video. Basically what this guy said:
Ken ibn Anak
My understanding, which may be wrong, is that in a post placement instpection a decision was made to re-tension a cable. A sub contractor was hired to accomplish that. The red crane visible in the post-collapse footage was being used to supply the needed tension. A (poor) decision was made to not close the road underneath while the work was going on. In the midst of the re-tensioning process the steel hawser (cable) of the red crane snapped in two. Rebound. Instant collapse. Criminal negligence in my opinion based on the failure to keep traffic and people clear of the work in process.
"My childhood friend was a pedestrian crossing under the bridge when it collapsed, and it hit him."
"How is he doing?"
Man, fuck "journalists" in this day and age. Fucking ambulance chasers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtiTm2dKLgU
The followup vid to AvE's previous one.
On the plans he pulls up (12:21), the strut in question (member 11) shouldn't have PT bars, but they do appear to be there in the actual structure.
I don't know if they where put in to compensate for the new mover location or for some other reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucflj-MsJBI
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