Pedestrian bridge collapse

[Ed Pawlowski]

Just saw this, at least 6 killed.

You have to wonder how it was engineered. It was installed in six hours!

[Clare Snyder]

It was far from finished - completion was scrduled for late 2019??

It was still under construction when it fell.

[dpb]

On 3/15/2018 6:46 PM, Clare Snyder wrote: ...

The news story I saw said it had been opened for pedestrian traffic for under six hours...

[James Wilkinson Sword]

No, shit happens, get used to it.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

They'll be the ones marching over bridges, without breaking step.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Maybe if America spent more on engineers and less on lawyers you could achieve buildings that stay up.

[Sue Yerasses]

Sadly, it's the fear of litigation that keeps engineers somewhat honest.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

The prospect of selling more stuff if the last one is made properly should do the trick.

Why do you think China and India are beating us hands down? They don't do health and softy. It's an enormous waste of time and money.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

You can see this locally - think how much it costs to get a local electrician to do a job in your house. Now how much it costs for a certified one to do it by the book, following all the regulations. IME it's about triple the cost.

[Frank]

I'm not so sure about our current crop of engineers. I had a retired classmate retire as a civil engineer and teach part time in a community college. They would not let him flunk anybody and he quit. Another friend was a state highway department engineer who retired but was retained as a consultant. It appears younger engineers were not cutting it. A lot of politicization appears to be involved even in engineering not to mention science.

[David B. Steinman]

Yah, you're right.

If the bridge collapsed under it's own weight it never would have stood up to a few hundred students having a party on the thing.

[Dean Hoffman]

An engineer spotted a crack in it a couple days before the collapse.