Bridge collapses into Mississippi River

[MeusH]

Bridge collapses into Mississippi River

That was sudden and horrible. However, all new stories write about people dead and wounded, and no more specific data. I'm not interested in story of a pizza guy giving his pizza for free to policemen. If you know the reasons of collapse, please let us know.

[m3henry]

It doesnt look as bad as it sounded on the radio this morning

[Hyronymus]

I read that they were renovating the bridge, although I'm not sure what part. Maybe it was just the tarmac. It was a 40 year old bridge, who knows what went wrong when they constructed it back then.

[rav]

yes, they were just laying a new layer of tarmac onto the bridge, which caused two lanes to be closed which saved quite a few lives I guess (1 construction worker is MIA though )

[patter]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6927725.stm

Good pictures from the BBC

[orudge]

I saw this on the news at lunchtime. Interesting that most recent reports claimed the structure was sound, although, apparently there was evidence that there "may" have been a weakness - which we obviously now know seems to have been the case.

[Gebbe]

At wikipedia they say the bridge had 'a lack of reduncancy', which means, AFAIK, that if there is one weak point, the complete construction will be over-loaded and collapse. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Miss ... ver_Bridge)

[Kevo00]

Hmm. I read in the Scotsman today that this bridge was already the subject of concern about its structural soundness, having failed an inspection in 2005. My impression of US roads overall is that there is an attitude of 'minimum spend' on them, so this does not surprise me although I hope the negligence of everyone involved in this is exposed.

[OC_4106]

yes, they were just laying a new layer of tarmac onto the bridge, which caused two lanes to be closed which saved quite a few lives I guess (1 construction worker is MIA though )

They were resurfacing the bridges surface to Concrete cause it is better on highways according to tests done in North America then Asphalt. On the 417 near Casselman they totally ripped up the Asphalt surface and replaced it with concrete surface. I will be able to get pics of it later cause I am not on my regular computer right now.

Most freeways in the USA are being resurfaced with concrete. Most of them from what I have seen can be found in California. This is basically what they were doing on that bridge.

One major cause investigators found according to multiple new stories is a lack of maintenance on the structure it's self.

EDIT: Montreal has also resurfaced a big section of Highway 40 with concrete.

[m3henry]

heh, in england we're getting rid of concrete.

[MeusH]

Do these roads have... umm cleavages (transversal grooves)?
There are some post-nazi concrete roads in Poland, but driving on them is like *bam*bam*bam*damn, my suspension*bam*bam*

[Kevo00]

I know they built part of the M74 in Scotland with concrete but resurfaced it to tarmac because it was so damn noisy to drive on.

[Parkey]

There's a bit of the M42 near the junction with the M6 toll that's surfaced with concrete. I hate it. It makes a horrible noise.

I find it amazing that the structural collapse of the bridge was so sudden. No warning signs at all. Not a good day at all for the designer if they're still alive.

[orudge]

I know they built part of the M74 in Scotland with concrete but resurfaced it to tarmac because it was so damn noisy to drive on.

Indeed, they're just getting rid of the last bits of concrete on the M74 - parts of that road have been seriously neglected. Hopefully next time I drive along there it'll be a bit better.

[OC_4106]

Do these roads have... umm cleavages (transversal grooves)?
There are some post-nazi concrete roads in Poland, but driving on them is like *bam*bam*bam*damn, my suspension*bam*bam*

Well the concrete has fine transverse grooves but I wouldn't say it is bumpy like how you are describing it lol, it's actually smoother then our asphalt roads.

I know they built part of the M74 in Scotland with concrete but resurfaced it to tarmac because it was so damn noisy to drive on.

You know what's funny? The early concrete roads here were pretty noisy but the new sections that are concrete are quieter to drive on then asphalt here. So I think they finally perfected concrete.

I find that the concrete highways are much more pleasant to drive on then asphalt highways, more smoother and a bit quieter surprisingly. One reason they are smoother is because all the semi's ruin the asphalt on highways here within 3 years.

Also just a random fact, in California I noticed the groves on their concrete highways goes with the traffic instead of across the traffic so it is very silent.

[OC_4106]

I apologize for digging up this topic but here are the pictures of the concrete highways

On the 417 between Ottawa and Montreal near Alexandria

P7020026.JPG (65.6 KiB) Viewed 793 times

On A-20 inside Montreal

P7020030.JPG (81.93 KiB) Viewed 786 times

Back to regular Asphalt

P7020031.JPG (75.08 KiB) Viewed 788 times

In Montreal they put down Black paint before painting on the white lines to make them more visible.