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

[lonetraveler]

It sounds like NTSB plans to take a very close look at how well the Accellerated Bridge Construction System works. He said they would be looking at all the bridges that had been built in similar fashion. They don't mess around. Its the same agency that investigates plane and train crashes


https://www.ntsb.gov/Pages/default.aspx

They also said OSHA will be investigating.

There will be a major OSHA investigation. There are so many violations that I see just from the reports and videos.

 

[lonetraveler]

wow...how is this even legal!!???

It isn't legal. I'm not surprised at all that there isn't much media covering this tragedy. All officials involved with this apparent corruption will be up for criminal charges, IMO.

 

[x_files]

I'm so angry right now, I hope I make sense here. First, I have twenty-five years experience in heavy construction, Capital project administrator experience with DuPont. I've built industrial plants, railways, chemical tank farms, roadways, bridges, many, many, major concrete support structures. This bridge project, in my opinion, was not built to any approved concrete design standards at all, the fact that the span was not supported at the time is totally unacceptable. At no time is it acceptable for the entire construction site to be open to pedestrian or for any traffic or work personnel until all spanning cables are in place for support, and for all testing is completed and signed off by structural engineering. Concrete testing reports of each and every pour is required to pass all standards. Concrete core samples have to pass a cure test as well. But most importantly, absolutely no personnel, equipment is allowed in the construction area at all times until the bridge is 100% complete, inspected and signed off from every engineer and state inspector there is. There are so many violations here it is impossible to cover them all right now. This is a multiple homicide event. There had to have been a lot of corruption and inferior work and lack of oversight on this project. Heads should roll.

Why do you think they disregarded regulations? Did Florida recently remove these regulations?

 

[liltexans]

It isn't legal. I'm not surprised at all that there isn't much media covering this tragedy. All officials involved with this apparent corruption will be up for criminal charges, IMO.

I hope they are charged with murder for each dead victim. This is not just irresponsible; it's inexcusable. And I hope the victims' families each file wrongful death suits against everyone responsible. This was such a preventable tragedy in every possible way.

 

[MaryG12]

Why do you think they disregarded regulations? Did Florida recently remove these regulations?

BBM

Lax might be a better word to use in describing well almost anything in Florida.

MOO

 

[Gardenista]

The Daily Mail has a photo up claiming to be "the moment the bridge collapsed." You can see it here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5506597/Pedestrian-bridge-collapses-cars-people-campus.html

There is a crane/boom in the upper right of shot, and what looks to be a snapped (or maybe just short or hard to see) cable hanging down from it. IMO.

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In 2009, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) launched Every Day Counts (EDC) in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to speed up the delivery of highway projects and to address the challenges presented by limited budgets. EDC is a state-based model to identify and rapidly deploy proven but underutilized innovations to shorten the project delivery process, enhance roadway safety, reduce congestion and improve environmental sustainability.

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[lonetraveler]

Why do you think they disregarded regulations? Did Florida recently remove these regulations?

This company underbid other companies on this project. Their horrific safety record and failure of the very same pedestrian bridges in the last few years should have disqualified them from even bidding this project at all. IMO, my personal opinion here, is that someone most likely was bribed into awarding this contract to this company. They cut corners to built the bridge and did not meet the engineering standards, OSHA standards and construction standards required to build the bridge. Again, there are so many violations apparent to me just with the information available, I'm just blown away. This entire roadway should have been closed to traffic and personnel.

JMO, Someone got their palms greased to award this contract and now people are dead. People will be going to prison.

 

[lonetraveler]

My husband is a retired large structure concrete engineer. He said the way it crumbled into small pieces, it looks like the concrete wasn't fully cured.

Exactly!

 

[Jax49]

[h=1]Collapsed Florida walkway was built using new ‘accelerated’ bridge technology[/h]
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...bridge-technology-n857166?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

[FONT=&quot]"This project is an outstanding example of the ABC method," Atorod Azizinamini, chairman of the university's civil and environmental engineering department, told the university's news service [/FONT]when the walkway was erected Saturday[FONT=&quot]. "Building the major element of the bridge — its main span superstructure — outside of the traveled way and away from busy Eighth Street is a milestone."[/FONT]

 

[x_files]

This company underbid other companies on this project. Their horrific safety record and failure of the very same pedestrian bridges in the last few years should have disqualified them from even bidding this project at all. IMO, my personal opinion here, is that someone most likely was bribed into awarding this contract to this company. They cut corners to built the bridge and did not meet the engineering standards, OSHA standards and construction standards required to build the bridge. Again, there are so many violations apparent to me just with the information available, I'm just blown away. This entire roadway should have been closed to traffic and personnel.

JMO, Someone got their palms greased to award this contract and now people are dead. People will be going to prison.

I really hope the right people go to prison including the person they bribed for the contract. I wish I had some faith left in our system.

 

[Gardenista]

FIU to develop technology to fix and build bridges—fast
10/01/2013 at 10:14 am

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded FIU a $1.4 million grant to work on one of the nation’s leading challenges—deteriorating bridges.

The Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC) at FIU is the first federally-funded entity focused on developing technology and methods to improve and accelerate the construction of bridges.

Earlier this month, FIU won an $11.4 million TIGER grant from DOT to improve connectivity between the university’s west Miami-Dade campus, the neighboring city of Sweetwater and other parts of Greater Miami. The public-private UniversityCity project will include a pedestrian bridge over Southwest Eighth Street and a transportation hub at FIU.
Environmental Engineering and director of the ABC-UTC at FIU said that the center will focus on faster construction methods that are more cost-effective and result in more durable bridges, while minimizing the interruptions to traffic.

“Our objective is to make accelerated bridge construction the new way of building bridges. In order to do that we have to develop new technology, we have to transfer that technology to the profession, and we have to develop the workforce,” said Azizinamini, who is also the principal investigator on another multi-million dollar national project that resulted in the development of the first comprehensive document dedicated to enhance the service life of bridges titled Design Guide for Bridges For Service Life.

 

[lonetraveler]

The no supports in the middle isn't exactly a problem. The problem seems to have been that they allowed traffic underneath before the bridge was completed and before the suspension part of the construction was installed.

This bridge is over 150 years old and still going strong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifton_Suspension_Bridge

This one is even older - almost 200 years old and still carrying heavy traffic every day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge

It just befuddles me that they weren't opening the bridge to pedestrian traffic but had absolutely no problem with vehicles traveling under the unsupported, uncompleted bridge. :banghead:

 

[rsd1200]

The bridge was 174' long and it seems to have had supports. I was looking at it and it reminded me of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. I was down there right after the former one dropped into the ocean, when hit by a barge, iirc. That was a very eerie site going over the remaining bridge, too. I digress, the new, well, now old, Sunshine Bridge is spectacular, and,

[FONT=&amp]One of the main companies responsible for the construction of the [/FONT]now-collapsed pedestrian bridge at Florida International University[FONT=&amp] was also involved in designing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, according to an archive of its website.[/FONT]

After the collapse, MCM said on Twitter that it was "a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way."


FIGG issued a press release saying the firm was "stunned" and “In our 40-year history, nothing like this has ever happened before."


“Our deepest sympathies are with all those affected by this accident," FIGG Engineering wrote.

[FONT=&amp]But FIGG was fined in 2012 after a 90-ton section of a bridge it was building in Virginia crashed onto railroad tracks below, causing minor injuries to several workers.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Court documents show that MCM was accused of substandard work in a lawsuit filed earlier this month. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The suit accused the company of employing "incompetent, inexperienced, unskilled or careless employees" at the job site.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]A review of Occupational Safety Health Administration records shows that MCM has been fined for 11 safety violations in the last five years.

[/FONT]

 

[MaryG12]

It just befuddles me that they weren't opening the bridge to pedestrian traffic but had absolutely no problem with vehicles traveling under the unsupported, uncompleted bridge. :banghead:

Me too. Did the bridge builders think that magic was going to keep the bridge in place until the cable suspensions were put in place?

:banghead:

 

[Jax49]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/us/fiu-bridge-collapse.html

Hours after the collapse, rescue workers were seen removing a body with a stretcher, and it seemed likely that there would be others.

Rescue workers, joined by construction workers, desperately dug through the rubble looking and listening for signs of life, using listening devices, fiber optics and dogs. Officials said that they expected the search to continue through the night, and that they had to work carefully because part of the structure was still unsafe.

 

[Gardenista]

Did construction technique lead to FIU pedestrian bridge collapse?

Until it’s fully secured, a quick-build structure is unstable and requires the utmost precision as construction continues. Properly shoring up the bridge can take weeks, a period during which even small mistakes can compound and cause a partial or total collapse, said Amjad Aref, a researcher at University at Buffalo's Institute of Bridge Engineering.

The FIU center, however, was not formally involved in the pedestrian bridge project, a university spokeswoman said last week when the span was laid lifted into place.

But FIU administered the $12 million bridge project, which was funded by the federal government. Because it has its own building department, the school was also in charge of approving plans, permits and inspections for the bridge. Although the structure spans a state highway, the Florida Department of Transportation was only tangentially involved, the agency said in statement issued Thursday.

FDOT did raise one potential red flag: Under its agreement with the state, FIU was supposed to hire a “pre-qualified” engineering firm to conduct an independent design check — meaning a firm previously approved by the state. FIU used a large international firm, Louis Berger, that was not pre-approved, according to FDOT. The agency also emphasized that FIU is responsible for overseeing all aspects of design and construction for the project.


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article205432029.html

 

[Gardenista]

FIU employee heard a loud crack crossing under the bridge. Hours later, it collapsed.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article205432799.html#storylink=cpy

 

[rsd1200]

Did construction technique lead to FIU pedestrian bridge collapse?

Until it’s fully secured, a quick-build structure is unstable and requires the utmost precision as construction continues. Properly shoring up the bridge can take weeks, a period during which even small mistakes can compound and cause a partial or total collapse, said Amjad Aref, a researcher at University at Buffalo's Institute of Bridge Engineering.

The FIU center, however, was not formally involved in the pedestrian bridge project, a university spokeswoman said last week when the span was laid lifted into place.

But FIU administered the $12 million bridge project, which was funded by the federal government. Because it has its own building department, the school was also in charge of approving plans, permits and inspections for the bridge. Although the structure spans a state highway, the Florida Department of Transportation was only tangentially involved, the agency said in statement issued Thursday.

FDOT did raise one potential red flag: Under its agreement with the state, FIU was supposed to hire a “pre-qualified” engineering firm to conduct an independent design check — meaning a firm previously approved by the state. FIU used a large international firm, Louis Berger, that was not pre-approved, according to FDOT. The agency also emphasized that FIU is responsible for overseeing all aspects of design and construction for the project.


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article205432029.html

Oh man, it's looking really bad all the way around, MCM has had 11 safety violations in five years and FIGG had a 90 ton segment collapse, in 2012. Now the FDOT issue, w/ FIU in charge of getting a state approved FDOT.

 

[Jax49]

Sounds like a lot of "wasn't our fault"...blame the other guy.

 

[whitelilac]

Even moving that mammoth concrete slab structure was tricky imo....any quirk in the calibration or precision of movement could have caused some instability in material that is solid and stiff....causing cracks and weaknesses.
For example, earthquake resistant buildings are designed[FONT=&quot] to withstand shattering effects and cracking with [/FONT]structural vibration control technologies[FONT=Open Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif].

I have no idea if these were employed in this bridge...I would hope so, but obviously something was off if it failed a stress test, and collapsed.


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