SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Florida International University ("FIU") needed a foot bridge to cross a canal and busy street. An FIU committee selected a design without redundant structural support because they were wanting a dramatic landmark (the bridge looked like it was a cable stayed design, but it wasn't -- the faux cables were almost entirely aesthetic). The original specs had called for structural redundancy so that the failure of one structural member would not cause a collapse -- the committee ignored this requirement in favor of visual appeal.
The engineering firm selected for the bridge (FIGG) made an error in calculation for a critical member at the end of the span. The engineering firm providing peer review of the design (Louis Berger) has refused to turn over to OSHA, certain documentation regarding what it was supposed to evaluate and what it actually did. When the bridge section which had been built on the side of the road was moved into place, experienced workers became extremely worried about cracks that started appearing and made their worries known to those up the chain. A FIGG engineer examined the cracks but determined they "did not present a safety concern even though its engineers did not know what caused them — and despite clear evidence that they were growing daily." Apparently, the guidelines are that cracks deeper than a half inch are to be taken seriously and these were much deeper and growing daily -- one photo shows a crack 4" deep.
The final bridge would have two sections -- the long section over the roadway and a short section over the canal. The canal section was to be built in place and tied into the long section. Had the canal section been built first, the risk of collapse for the section over the roadway would have been reduced because it would have shored up the longer road section.
The bridge collapsed killing six and permanently disabling another.
Article regarding the OSHA report: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article231428938.html
Article regarding independent engineering review with some good explanations which I, as a non-engineer, found informative: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article212571434.html
Time Lapse Video of Bridge Collapse (released by FIU): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrBOF2jugFM
Original Soylent item: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/03/19/1746219
Link to the OSHA report itself: https://www.osha.gov/doc/engineering/pdf/2019_r_03.pdf
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @11:15AM (7 children)
Florida Man thought he could build complex long term structure by cutting every possible corner.
End result demonstrates Late State Capitalism to a T.
How many of the engineers involved had their wealthy parents help get them into college and afford Tiger Exams for their tests?
How many accountants told engineers that physics did not matter as much as money?
How many people will lose their jobs? Rhetorical question, this is late stage capitalism so next headline will be:
Florida Man receives promotion after his bridge design fails catostrophically
(Score: 2, Insightful) by epitaxial on Thursday June 13 2019, @12:23PM
Stop with that leftist bullshit. This was gross negligence and aesthetic design over proper engineering.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @03:29PM (3 children)
Regardless of the financial influences, this needs to be on the responsible engineer who signed off.
Will his wealthy parents keep him out of prison?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @05:56PM
Most engineers do not come from wealthy families.
Wealthy families send their children to business school.
The poor bastard who gets hung for this is probably still paying off his student loans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @05:59PM (1 child)
No one will keep him out of prison, as a patsy that is his job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @09:59PM
He's not a patsy, he has legal responsibility. He could have withheld his approval.
If the structural failure was foreseeable, his ass needs to be hung.
(Score: 2) by J_Darnley on Thursday June 13 2019, @06:53PM
I think this time it was Florida Woman not Florida Man.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 13 2019, @08:10PM
Agreed, but unfortunately not every country is a Communist utopia like Venezuela.