maxine in ri wrote:

> This morning they're saying that the design was one that (hopefully)
> was not repeated very often. No pylons, and no suspension supports
> for a large chunk of the span, just the roadbed and beams under it for
> support. My guess is the current work which had lanes closed put too
> much stress on one side of the highway. Lots of barge traffic in the
> area, so they didn't want to impede or put too many obstacles in the
> way. Now they have all that nice rubble to clear out (while looking
> for the ~50 missing cars/people) which will impede barge traffic for a
> loooong time.

I don't think the work on the road surface had anything to do with
it. Cutting down the net amount of traffic would result in less stress
on the structure, not more.

I think this event will reveal some fundamental flaws in their
inspection regime. Whatever caused it, whether it's erosion
of the pylons (known as scouring, it has caused collapses
before. A major incident occurred in upstate NY) or deterioration
of the structure itself, it should have been caught by their normal
inspection regime.

--
Reg