In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> Omelet wrote:
> > Those pictures were indeed scary.
> > I don't think that that bridge was designed for rush hour traffic when
> > it was built. It was pretty old.
>
> Of course it was built for rush hour traffic. Bridges are designed to carry
> as much weight as it takes to fill all lanes completely. In fact, they are
> usually designed to support about double the maximum expected, which should
> leave a huge margin of error. Unfortunately, this was one which was built
> without any structural redundancy which would have provided for another
> part of the structure to compensate for the failure of another. As a
> result, when one section fails the whole thing collapses.
>
> The bridge was not that old. It was only 40 years old. That is relatively
> young for a bridge. Bridges are not built to have a specific life and then
> torn down and replaced. There are ongoing maintenance programs to detect
> weaknesses and repair them. The Peace Bridge between Buffalo NY and Fort
> Erie Ont. is 80 years old and it still has the original deck. That is quite
> an engineering feat, but they were able to do it because of regular and
> thorough maintenance work.

So who is going to hang for this?

Seems to me it would have been a team effort...

I rather like the Japanese philosophy.
Fix the problem, not the blame.
--
Peace, Om

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"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson