Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Pedestrian Bridge in Miami Collapses Days After its Construction Began

posted by CoolHand on Monday March 19 2018, @07:15PM   Printer-friendly

takyon writes:

An "instant" pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in Miami collapsed on March 15, killing a number of motorists. A 174-foot, 950-ton span of the bridge was installed on Saturday, March 10 over a busy portion of Tamiami Trail called Southwest Eighth Street. The incomplete bridge suddenly collapsed on Thursday:

The bridge gave way suddenly while the traffic light for motorists on Tamiami Trail was red, so that the concrete span fell on top of a row of stopped vehicles. A woman stopped at the light who was heading westbound said the structure fell without warning. The woman, who asked that her name not be used, said it was immediately clear to her that several people were dead.

[...] The bridge crashed across six lanes of heavily traveled Tamiami Trail, crushing a still undetermined number of cars and killing a still unclear number of people. Police on the scene said at least six people could be dead.

From an earlier article:

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.

[...] 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.

[more...]

hemocyanin writes:

The news stories about the Miami Bridge follow the common pattern of containing almost no technical information and a massive focus on the horror. The comments section to the news articles are almost equally horrific. So I started looking for civil engineering forums, ran across this one: http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=436595 and in one of the links in one of the comments, ran into a link to the proposal from MCM and FIGG: https://facilities.fiu.edu/projects/BT_904/MCM_FIGG_Proposal_for_FIU_Pedestrian_Bridge_9-30-2015.pdf It runs 173 pages and is a mixture of marketing and an explanation of the phases of construction. Very nice renderings

I have none of the requisite knowledge to comment on the collapse, but the reading is finally interesting. I'd be interested in other people's finds as well.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/florida-bridge-collapse-crack.html

Hours before the collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University on Thursday, the engineering company for the bridge met with the construction manager and representatives from the university and the Florida Department of Transportation to discuss a crack on the structure, according to a statement from the university released early Saturday.

The engineering company, Figg Bridge Engineers, delivered a technical presentation on the crack, the statement said, and "concluded there were no safety concerns and the crack did not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge."

Six vehicles remain trapped under the bridge, with four of them very difficult to extract, Maurice Kemp, deputy mayor of Miami-Dade County, said.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2  Original Submission #3 

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Pedestrian Bridge in Miami Collapses Days After its Construction Began | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 43 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 19 2018, @07:49PM (3 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday March 19 2018, @07:49PM (#655086)

    The innovative installation method significantly reduced risks to workers, pedestrians and motorists and minimized traffic disruptions, FIU said

    ... before the 950 ton span collapsed on Tamiami Trail, disrupting a major artery unexpectedly for days, killing several motorists in the process.

    I caught a radio report of an e-mail from an engineer 2 days before the collapse noting cracks in the structure, at the time the report said he was not concerned for the safety of the structure, just noting the cracks.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   3  

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Monday March 19 2018, @07:59PM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Monday March 19 2018, @07:59PM (#655091)

    They say the cracks are on the north side. The video I've seen (2 of em) show the bridge failed on one side. So, did it fail where the cracks where, or on the other side of the bridge?

    --
    When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @08:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @08:49PM (#655118)

      It failed on the north side.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @01:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 20 2018, @01:33AM (#655222)

    Death toll rises to six in Miami bridge collapse as new information emerges about contractors [wsws.org]

    the lead engineer on the bridge project had called and left a voice message with [Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)] on Tuesday reporting cracks in the north end of the span. W. Denney Pate, an engineer employed by FIGG Bridge Group, noted the cracking was "not good" and that it would have to be repaired but insisted that it was not a safety issue.

    According to the FDOT statement, the call was not heard until Friday as the employee responsible for the line was out of their office but the state agency had not been responsible for checking on the bridge since none of the firms involved in construction of the bridge had ever communicated a "life-safety issue".
    [...]
    Munilla Construction Management (MCM) is a South Florida-based company with deep political connections in the state. The Miami New Times reports that the company is currently fighting a lawsuit by a TSA employee who was injured while walking across a "makeshift bridge" built by the company during an expansion project at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International in October of 2016.
    [...]
    MCM has been fined over $50,000 since 2013 over the course of eight inspections of its worksites by federal inspectors. According to the Miami Herald, the company was ordered to pay a judgment of $143,000 to one of its subcontractors, Southeastern Engineering Contractors, after the workers walked off of the job due to safety concerns. The project in question, a $13.5 million "bridge reconstructing" job, was abandoned by the company due to multiple safety concerns including, according to court documents cited by the Herald, "arguable collapse" due to "failure of temporary sheet piles on the south bend of the site".

    FIGG Bridge Group, the other major contractor and the designer of the collapsed pedestrian bridge, is a Tallahassee-based company that has been involved in many large construction projects, including the replacement of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota that collapsed in 2007. In 2012, the company was fined $28,000 by the Virginia Department of Labor following a near catastrophic accident during the construction of the Jordan Bridge in South Norfolk, Virginia.

    According to court documents, FIGG modified a girder used in the construction of the bridge against the recommendations of the manufacturer. The girder failed, sending a 90-ton piece of concrete falling onto the railroad tracks beneath it. Four workers were said to suffer minor injuries in the accident.

    An article in the Virginian-Pilot at the time of the accident quoted one of the citations issued: "The citation also says Figg did not do daily, weekly, and monthly inspections of the girder, that it did not provide adequate training for the equipment, and it did not have certain safety procedures in place for its maintenance and repair."

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]