FL - Pedestrian bridge collapses at Florida International University, Miami, 2018

[whitelilac]

any issues with this type of bridge before? No

but it's the first bridge with titanium dioxide in the concrete

 

[Betty P]

NTSB doesn't know how many of these bridges are out there, where they are, how well they're working.

They will now look for them. If they uncover anything, they will issue urgent recommendations as needed.

Doesn't know if they've had any issues with this type of bridge before. To his knowledge, no.

Don't know if an engineer has inspected the bridge. They just got to town, just starting.

Would it be unusual to have someone on the bridge during stress test? Don't know. May have been construction workers.

Starting investigation now, will release information as they have it.

Well, that's a relief. Some unbiased professionals on the scene to head up the investigation.

 

[Betty P]

any issues with this type of bridge before? No

but it's the first bridge with titanium dioxide in the concrete

Why would they put TiO2 in concrete? It's used in coating concrete to make it "self cleaning".

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950061810000218

 

[Gardenista]

Seems like you can see the cable attached to the crane doing stress test in this video as well as how the cement cable anchor crumbled

https://twitter.com/MoniqueOMadan/status/974392819770150913

 

[jjenny]

NTSB doesn't know how many of these bridges are out there, where they are, how well they're working.

They will now look for them. If they uncover anything, they will issue urgent recommendations as needed.

Doesn't know if they've had any issues with this type of bridge before. To his knowledge, no.

Don't know if an engineer has inspected the bridge. They just got to town, just starting.

Would it be unusual to have someone on the bridge during stress test? Don't know. May have been construction workers.

Starting investigation now, will release information as they have it.

Well, that's a relief. Some unbiased professionals on the scene to head up the investigation.

Maybe there are no issues with this type of bridge because there is no this type of bridge. They were using innovative installation method and innovative self-cleaning concrete. What could go wrong?

 

[whitelilac]

If you google, there are hundreds of newer pedestrian bridges in the world.....all suspension bridges...including the Millennium of more than 1000' over the Thames.
I can't for the life of me figure out why the cable tower wasn't in place before this bridge was placed, nor why there was no temporary support system for the slab before the cables are attached.

I guess we will know more when the investigative team is there.

 

[whitelilac]

Why would they put TiO2 in concrete? It's used in coating concrete to make it "self cleaning".

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950061810000218

Maybe it affected the concrete curing time, particularly if it was a coating.

 

[Gardenista]

Seems like you can see the cable attached to the crane doing stress test in this video as well as how the cement cable anchor crumbled

https://twitter.com/MoniqueOMadan/status/974392819770150913

Still image

https://twitter.com/MoniqueOMadan/status/974385993053888515

 

[Jax49]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article204506084.html

Video from last week -- shows the span being moved into position.

smh

 

[whitelilac]

Kendall Regional Medical Center is treating 10 Level 1 trauma patients, two of whom in critical condition, stemming from the collapse of Florida International University’s 950-ton bridge Thursday afternoon.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article205411239.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article205411239.html

 

[Betty P]

Still image

https://twitter.com/MoniqueOMadan/status/974385993053888515

That looks like the Fire Department's crane. Would the Fire Department be in charge of stress testing, or is that crane rigged up to start lifting and moving debris? Also good the NTSB came in so quickly. Glad they did.

 

[gregjrichards]

What a terrible tragedy and an awful way to die. Sending prayers to everyone who has lost a loved one, those who are injured and everyone affected.

 

[Betty P]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article204506084.html

Video from last week -- shows the span being moved into position.

smh

That's a huge, heavy span with no support in the middle.

Well, the officials are good at PR, building bridges not so much.

I wonder if there was a rush to get it up before Spring Break, so they could finish installation while students were gone from school?

 

[fred&edna]

Seems like you can see the cable attached to the crane doing stress test in this video as well as how the cement cable anchor crumbled

https://twitter.com/MoniqueOMadan/status/974392819770150913

I thought that cable was being used for rescue. Didn't realize it was part of the stress test. Or maybe I'm looking at the wrong pic

 

[Betty P]

Someone else preparing to give a PC. Will begin shortly

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/miami-bridge-collapse-latest/index.html

 

[Gardenista]

That looks like the Fire Department's crane. Would the Fire Department be in charge of stress testing, or is that crane rigged up to start lifting and moving debris? Also good the NTSB came in so quickly. Glad they did.

You're right. I was trying to find a close up of this

https://twitter.com/GabrielaRose12/status/974343866106163200

 

[oceanblueeyes]

If you google, there are hundreds of newer pedestrian bridges in the world.....all suspension bridges...including the Millennium of more than 1000' over the Thames.
I can't for the life of me figure out why the cable tower wasn't in place before this bridge was placed, nor why there was no temporary support system for the slab before the cables are attached.

I guess we will know more when the investigative team is there.

I totally agree with you. The bridge collapsed because the span was too long in between the piling supports on each end. There was nothing to hold the tremendous weight up in the middle general area where there was no support pilings at all.

The stress would be taken off of both ends that were supported underneath, and all of the stress would be on the unsupported part of the bridge span causing it to collapse in that section.

IMO, that is going to be the cause of why it fell.

 

[MaryG12]

But it's supposed to be cable supported, so there would not be supports under the bridge, is that correct?

I did not see any cable supports on it.

 

[Pamela_Brewer]

https://goo.gl/images/fWpvx7
It was supposed to have one support.
Did it?
Moo

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[CoverMeCagney]

If you google, there are hundreds of newer pedestrian bridges in the world.....all suspension bridges...including the Millennium of more than 1000' over the Thames.
I can't for the life of me figure out why the cable tower wasn't in place before this bridge was placed, nor why there was no temporary support system for the slab before the cables are attached.

I guess we will know more when the investigative team is there.

That one is metal (steel?) and was also known as the wobbly bridge as it swayed really badly once hundreds of pedestrians started crossing it. They had to close it almost immediately for modifications which took over a year I think. Shows they can't always predict what will happen with these new fangled ideas and what has happened today is truly tragic. I just wish that, in the face of the new and unknown, they'd closed the damn road....