Brand New Pedestrian Bridge Collapses in Miami on Busy Causeway

[Ba-ba-Ra]

At least 5 vehicles smashed on busy causeway. Several fatalities already confirmed.

It was not opened yet, but apparently there were some workmen on top.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/pedestrian-bridge-florida-international-university-collapses/story?id=53774444

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/03/15/several-dead-after-pedestrian-bridge-collapses-at-florida-university.html

[Tam]

God, how horrible. There's so much blood on the concrete. I hope the people in the crushed cars had a swift death. I cannot imagine how horrible it must be to be in that car, and to love whoever was in them.

The infrastructure in this country is deplorable. How this happened is more than likely due only to greed.

[Satori]

Very sad indeed. Entirely avoidable.

This is a total failure of the bridge. This can only be explained by complete incompetence in the: 1) design, plans and specifications, 2) construction processes, including workmanship, and/or materials used, or 3) by an intentional act. Number 3 is not likely. 1 and 2 are very likely.

[Cardillac]

according to my brothers/sister-in-laws in the US the US infrastructure continues to deteriorate; there's always money for war/defense (?) but the infrastructure of the US continues to crumble- and bridges are very vital; one can deal with pot-holes in a road on terra firma but one cannot deal with a faulty bridge that has no terra firma underneath it-

Larry

[justntime2learn]

according to my brothers/sister-in-laws in the US the US infrastructure continues to deteriorate; there's always money for war/defense (?) but the infrastructure of the US continues to crumble- and bridges are very vital; one can deal with pot-holes in a road on terra firma but one cannot deal with a faulty bridge that has no terra firma underneath it-

Larry

Are we seeing the repercussions of one civilization financially supporting two?

[ThePythonicCow]

Here's a video from November 2015, showing the proposed bridge:
5Y_71L35CvM
This video shows that a suspension cable system was intended, but the images I've seen today of the fallen bridge don't show that. Perhaps that suspension cable system was still intended, just not in place yet.

The following side view, from another Youtube video (here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O51u7m2JG0k)) shows the planned cabling system better.

http://thepythoniccow.us/Screenshot-2018-3-15_University_Bridge_Miami_-_Residences_-_YouTube.png

===

The above plans for a cable suspension system explain the poor angling of the columns separating the walkway from the roof, that Jim Stone criticizes in his review of this bridge failure. These columns were clearly intended to be inline with the cabling that was not yet in place.

Here's an excerpt of Jim Stone's critique (http://82.221.129.208/.zc5.html), with the images he included of what the bridge looked like in recent days, before, and now after, its collapse.

===============

Florida bridge collapse
This is big enough news to report, my style I guess
A brand new (not even opened yet) pedestrian bridge at a university in Florida collapsed early today. There are numerous rumors about why it collapsed circulating, which include "it was placed temporarily, waiting for the final central support to be put in." But the bridge was in fact supposed to be ready to go.

From the looks of the photos however, it appears to me that it was a common core design, with stylistic rather than working truss members. If an old schooler had built this, all the columns between the top and bottom sections would have been in perfectly symmetrical V shapes, rather than what we have here. And if you look at the first and second ones in from the left, they provided absolutely no strength, and that is where the bridge failed. It is a mystery how this ever got approved, it means the bridge architects and engineers were unilaterally incompetent, with fully incompetent state inspectors, the entire decision chain at the company, state, and local level was completely incompetent. This should have been rejected the second it hit the state inspector's desk.

http://thepythoniccow.us/Florida_trussbridge_before_collapse.jpg
The woman in the black car on the far left in the photo below said she heard pieces of the bridge falling on her car, and then suddenly the back seat was gone. This cinches it, the bridge failed right where the trusses were so stylized they did not provide any support at all, and after failing at that point (total failure preceeded by falling pieces as the bridge started to split up), it pulled itself off the support on the right side of the road. This is common core pure and simple folks, here we have the two photos that prove it. This bridge was designed to look "good" on paper, with no consideration whatsoever given to engineering at all. All you have to do is look at the top picture and you can clearly see why this bridge failed. It could not possibly be any more clear why giving advantage to certain groups of people in college should not be allowed, because it allows dangerous diplomas to be issued to people who never really qualified at all.

http://thepythoniccow.us/Florida_trussbridge_after_collapse.jpg
Fashion over form, with no care at all given to form!

===============

So, it seems that what Jim Stone is missing is that the bridge was not finished yet. The bridge was missing a key structural component, the cable suspension.

This is still a sign of gross engineering or construction incompetence, not being sure that the half finished bridge was strong enough to remain up while the cabling was added.

However that is a (minor, in the grand scheme of things) different failure than Jim Stone identifies.

===

Unless, that is, the engineers decided to remove the center pillar and cabling, later on in the design and construction process, but then failed to competently redesign the structural integrity of the bridge.

===

I find it rather odd that even the center column, below the bridge walkway down to the ground, was not in place before the main walkway/roof horizontal structure was moved into place.

[ThePythonicCow]

I find it rather odd that even the center column, below the bridge walkway down to the ground, was not in place before the main walkway/roof horizontal structure was moved into place.
Ah - that's because only half of the bridge was up, when it collapsed.

Here's another pre-collapse image, taken at the time the now failed span was being moved into place, clearly showing the center column in place, on the right side of the image, and even the beginnings of the steel reinforcement bars, sticking up above the roof of the walkway, that were planned to form the tower from which the supporting cables would be hung.

http://thepythoniccow.us/Florida_trussbridge_before_collapse_2.jpg

[Tam]

Something about Stone's final comment rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I'm just being oversensitive in my interpretation, but I can't help but feel like this has a borderline racist undertone to it.

"It could not possibly be any more clear why giving advantage to certain groups of people in college should not be allowed, because it allows dangerous diplomas to be issued to people who never really qualified at all."

I dunno...sounds like he's alluding to affirmative action, and making it seem like those who benefit from it and graduated in engineering then got careers in it were never fit to do it to begin with.

Again, I could just be overanalyzing here, but it is a weird way to end an otherwise insightful post.

Thank you Paul for researching it more deeply and clearing some misinformation.

That bridge certainly looked wrong, and I am by no stretch an engineer.

Crazy that this happened.

[ThePythonicCow]

This aerial view shows where the second half of the bridge, going across a water canal, would have gone, and further confirms as above that only half of the bridge walkway, without the center column and suspension cables, was in place at the time of the collapse.

Towards the right side, across the water canal, you can see the posts now under construction that would have held the other end of the second span of the bridge.

http://thepythoniccow.us/Florida_trussbridge_after_collapse_2.jpg

¤=[Post Update]=¤


Something about Stone's final comment rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I'm just being oversensitive in my interpretation, but I can't help but feel like this has a borderline racist undertone to it.

"It could not possibly be any more clear why giving advantage to certain groups of people in college should not be allowed, because it allows dangerous diplomas to be issued to people who never really qualified at all."

I dunno...sounds like he's alluding to affirmative action, and making it seem like those who benefit from it and graduated in engineering then got careers in it were never fit to do it to begin with.
I suspect that Jim Stone allergic to idiots, of whatever race, creed, or color :).

[sunwings]

ES8wYMUXZyg

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

How awful. I think it's more a disaster of planning, than engineering. The design of the bridge is probably sound, but its installation was flawed.

The structure clearly wasn't complete, or properly reinforced, when erected across the highway. Without the suspension cables in place to hold the whole thing up, it's a collapse waiting to happen. Maybe they thought it was strong enough to stand by itself for a while, without any foot traffic? That I think was their fatal miscalculation. It proved very weak, as without cables it took just days for total failure.

Horrible. I sincerely wish those affected - who survived - a swift recovery. They can at least expect a large compensation payout (one would hope).

[ThePythonicCow]

.
Perhaps a crane dropped something onto the bridge, to cause the collapse.

The crane in question was removed quickly from over the collapse, so is only visible in early images or video, taken right after the collapse.


That's what the observer, who was near the bridge when it collapsed, is telling Fox News:
ky-23LujJ1g
Here's the image from the above video of the crane in question, the taller, darker colored one (not the shorter green one) that this observer says he saw, working above the just collapsed bridge:

http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_1.jpg
============

Here's a Youtube video that I found, taken just after the collapse occurred, from the other side, that also shows the taller darker crane still in position, its empty hook over the collapse:
ES8wYMUXZyg
Here are three still images, taken from this second Youtube video:
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_2.jpg http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_3.jpg http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_4.jpg

[ThePythonicCow]

Here's another Youtube video, from right after the collapse, showing the crane hanging right over the point of failure:
XEbLf44LOBE
Here's a still image from this video:

http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_5.jpg

[Noelle]

Here's more about the bridge from an article published 3-10-18 in a FIU publication. I bolded text that stood out to me.

First-of-its-kind pedestrian bridge “swings” into place (https://news.fiu.edu/2018/03/first-of-its-kind-pedestrian-bridge-swings-into-place/120385)

On March 10, the main span of the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge was lifted from its temporary supports, rotated 90 degrees across an eight-lane thoroughfare, and lowered into its permanent position.

“FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplishes our mission beautifully,” said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg. “We are filled with pride and satisfaction at seeing this engineering feat come to life and connect our campus to the surrounding community where thousands of our students live.”

The 174-foot, 950-ton section of the bridge was built adjacent to Southwest Eight Street using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) methods, which are being advanced at FIU’s Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC). This method of construction reduces potential risks to workers, commuters and pedestrians and minimizes traffic interruptions. The main span of the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge was installed in a few hours with limited disruption to traffic over this weekend.

“This project is an outstanding example of the ABC method,” said chair of FIU’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Department and director of FIU’s ABC-UTC Atorod Azizinamini, who is one of the world’s leading experts on Accelerated Bridge Construction. “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.”

The FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge is the largest pedestrian bridge moved via Self-Propelled Modular Transportation in U.S. history. It is also the first in the world to be constructed entirely of self-cleaning concrete. When exposed to sunlight, the titanium dioxide in the concrete captures pollutants and turns it bright white, reducing maintenance costs.

“FIU has come a long way since the TIGER grant that funded this pedestrian bridge was awarded in 2013. This project represents a true collaboration among so many different partners at local, state, and federal levels, and in both the public and private sectors,” said Mario Diaz-Balart, U.S. Representative and Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. “The university’s growth and acceleration is no longer just about the campus and its student body; it’s about the future of Sweetwater, Miami-Dade County and the entire South Florida region. I believe this is what creative solutions to transportation challenges look like, and I will continue to support and incentivize these new ideas.”

[ThePythonicCow]

Here's the Santa Monica Observer's report that this bridge collapse was caused by something falling from a crane: Found Video: Miami Bridge Collapsed During Stress Test Conducted in Afternoon Traffic (http://www.smobserved.com/story/2018/03/15/news/witness-miami-bridge-collapse-caused-by-snapped-cable-on-crane/3368.html).

According to this report, a "local congressman" confirmed that this drop from the crane was deliberate - a deliberate stress load test!

=============

Found Video: Miami Bridge Collapsed During Stress Test Conducted in Afternoon Traffic

By Observer Staff, March 15, 2018

Congressman confirms that a stress test was underway at the time of the collapse

At least one witness has attributed the collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Miami, to a snapped cable. Speaking on Fox TV, eyewitness Jose Mejia says that he saw a blue cable holding equipment in a blue box, snap. It fell onto the pedestrian bridge, causing the bridge to collapse.

The bridge fell on at least 5 vehicles. It was intended to connect 2 sides of Miami's Florida International University.

A local congressman confirms that a stress test was underway at the time of the collapse. "They were trying to see what the bridge would handle, by dropping a load on it," said Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R), confirming on FoxNews that testing was going on at the time of the collapse

It seems unwise that such a test would be conducted during rush hour.

=============

[ThePythonicCow]

The first few seconds of this video shows the bridge collapsing. It's too blurry to tell, but one can see the big crane, and it seems that there might be something that the crane is placing on top of the bridge, right where the bridge breaks and collapses.

Y9ohLtV4LXI

[ThePythonicCow]

Another video with both the few seconds of video showing the actual collapse, and some various details of the bridge's design and construction:
F0MBOQV7kuU

[ThePythonicCow]

Most of the following video is a PR nightmare for FIGG, a contractor for this collapsed bridge in Miami. FIGG has prior fines and complaints for bridges failing during construction.

Then right at the end of the video, the CBS News Senior National Correspondent Jim Axelrod tells Jeff Glor of CBS Evening News that "workers at the scene report that today the bridge was reportedly undergoing some sort of stress test."
8gAVzFvbUNY

[Hym]

There is so much wrong about the building method and worker safety that were not right. O.S.H.A., the U.S.'s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is going to be all over this collapse site. The fines they likely will impose, $124,000 for a willful violation, will not come near the millions of dollars that the civil lawsuits will impose upon all parties involved as a result of the deaths and injuries caused by so much neglect. I always tell builders and productions that I find completely unconcerned about the human costs of accidents that safety always saves money, yet knowing that some still don't give a damn and even evaluate their investments with the possibly that a death can occur and calculate it as a potential "write off". (If you work in a business where you ever hear anything like this in a business plan you should find income elsewhere.)

I just finished a 2 day intensive with OSHA a short while ago and there is much here that is wrong, even to the novice, not just someone like me who's been in the business for decades. This is the result of a series of habitual, rushed contractor decisions that place profit above the safety of workers and the public alike.

Was it a stress test or a tension support failure and adjustment attempt?
Stress tests on highway structures should never be done where there is any danger to any worker or the public. I don't know the laws in Florida, but it is against federal safety guidelines, in almost all cases, primarily because it doesn't make any sense if the test fails or the tensioning system fails and there is anyone in the danger zone.



The first thing I noticed was the green lift up in the air next to the crane. Where is the operator? Is he in the lift or did he remove his harness hook and go out to see the test up close, or was he involved in evaluating or adjusting the inner-supported tensioning system?

The green lift next to the crane, an articulated lift, that we call a condor, was used to place a worker on top of the roof of the bridge. The worker never should have left it. It appears there was not any safety concern for the worker(s) who seems to have been viewing the stress test or was involved in the tensioning support work up close, outside of the safety of the lift. He is not allowed to exit the 4ft. high cage at the end of the lift, nor disconnect the safety harness that he is supposed to be wearing at all times, the harness that is only effective if it is connected to the cage. (I have my own harness and have used it always, when in a condor and when on a roof, usually connected to a yo-yo, even a flat roof, that is high off of the ground.)

The lift can be operated from a panel on it's side from ground level, so that is why we don't see it later on, as the extension was lowered, someone jumped in the cage and drove it away. As a matter of industry requirements we have to be re-certified to operate those lifts every couple of years, and my re-cert. is coming up soon.

At the opposite end of the bridge collapse we momentarily see a blue pettibone forklift pushed up under the partially collapsed end of the bridge. It is a light construction material lift, capable of lifting much more than the limit of a condor's 2 person capacity -but also not capable of supporting any heavy weight in tonnage. It was placed under the far end as a temporary support after the collapse. It didn't make sense to me from a practical viewpoint, even though I understand why it was placed there. It was removed soon after as it would only cause more danger when, not if, it would be upended as any of the bridge's weight beyond the pettibone's low weight and counter-balance capacity was exceeded.

This is just part of the safety outlook on how much was wrong with the site. From an engineering viewpoint and knowing the code minimum for the time it takes concrete to harden to the strengths needed and the psi capacity of the concrete mix itself, we will see how deep the investigations go into preventing such accidents from happening again.

[O Donna]

Then right at the end of the video, the CBS News Senior National Correspondent Jim Axelrod tells Jeff Glor of CBS Evening News that "workers at the scene report that today the bridge was reportedly undergoing some sort of stress test."


Hmmmm stress test on newer bridge technology while traffic on a busy Florida highway passes underneath, what could go wrong? D'oh!

[Helene West]

First time going on the website gab.ai as an alternative to Youtube.
Came across this link - make of it what thou wilst: the company who built bridge is a 'certified minority owned' company

http://www.vdare.com/posts/the-cost-of-diversity-florida-bridge-collapse-company-a-certified-minority-owned-firm

[ThePythonicCow]

Here's more evidence - someone had a dashcam running as they approached the pedestrian bridge, and got an excellent shot of the bridge as it failed.

The video is on Youtube:
fw0qjtOFpm0
Here are the key portions of the key frames. If someone can track the original video down on Instragram, we could probably obtain higher resolution versions of these frames.

http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_0.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_1.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_2.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_3.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_4.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_5.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_6.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_7.jpg
http://thepythoniccow.us/Miami_Bridge_Collapse_with_Crane_Dashcam_snap_8.jpg

That crane was pretty clearly working with a load right at the point of failure.

[ThePythonicCow]

.
This guy NAILS it (don't watch if you don't want to hear profanity).

KtiTm2dKLgU

That crane probably wasn't just doing innocent stress tests, but rather was trying to remediate a problem ... a critical internal stress bolt had already weakened, probably as a result of the way that the bridge was moved into place (with one of the four load bearing tractors not where it was intended to be, due to obstacles on the ground). When that bolt popped, the bridge failed immediately.

Good chance the crane was there, with a worker, trying to figure out what to do with the weakened bolt, which should have already been causing out of spec readings on the stress indicators embedded in the bridge.

No way in Hades should they have been letting traffic under that bridge until some serious analysis and probably difficult repair work had been done. Even bridge workers should have been treating that bridge like a potential bomb ... dangerous to be near or under.

[Cidersomerset]

Here's more evidence - someone had a dashcam running as they
approached the pedestrian bridge, and got an excellent shot of the bridge as it failed

Thats a amazing, scary 20secs and it brings home the disaster....


This guy NAILS it (don't watch if you don't want to hear profanity).

It certainly seemed plausible and he made a lot of sense combined with the
dash board footage....


===================================================

http://static.bbci.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/3.21.31/orb/4/img/bbc-blocks-dark.png

Miami bridge: Meeting over crack held hours before collapse

3 hours ago..17/3/18


https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/1181A/production/_100460717_hi045585045.jpg
Several vehicles remain firmly buried under the 862-tonne bridge

Florida officials were told "there were no safety concerns" about a crack
in a Miami university bridge, hours before it collapsed killing six people.

Florida International University (FIU) said a meeting on Thursday morning
involved the engineering and construction companies, as well as Florida's
transport department.University officials say they were told that the crack
"did not compromise the structural integrity" of the bridge.

It later fell on eight vehicles.

In a statement, the university said the "engineer of record" from the contractor
FIGG gave a technical presentation regarding the crack.

read more...

https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/730E/production/_100445492_florida_bridge_collapse_v02_640map-nc.png
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43440501

[Bill Ryan]

.
This guy NAILS it (don't watch if you don't want to hear profanity).

KtiTm2dKLgU

That crane probably wasn't just doing innocent stress tests, but rather was trying to remediate a problem ... a critical internal stress bolt had already weakened, probably as a result of the way that the bridge was moved into place (with one of the four load bearing tractors not where it was intended to be, due to obstacles on the ground). When that bolt popped, the bridge failed immediately.

Good chance the crane was there, with a worker, trying to figure out what to do with the weakened bolt, which should have already been causing out of spec readings on the stress indicators embedded in the bridge.

No way in Hades should they have been letting traffic under that bridge until some serious analysis and probably difficult repair work had been done. Even bridge workers should have been treating that bridge like a potential bomb ... dangerous to be near or under.

Excellent video analysis — and an excellent brief text summary ^^ there.

This part
No way in Hades should they have been letting traffic under that bridge until some serious analysis and probably difficult repair work had been done....is critical.

Even the video presenter — not lost for colorful ways of stressing what he's saying! — can't find the words to describe how derelict and irresponsible this was. It was the site supervisor who caused those unfortunate people to be killed.

[Jayke]

First time going on the website gab.ai as an alternative to Youtube.
Came across this link - make of it what thou wilst: the company who built bridge is a 'certified minority owned' company

http://www.vdare.com/posts/the-cost-of-diversity-florida-bridge-collapse-company-a-certified-minority-owned-firm

MCM, a female-led construction company...

https://squawker.org/culture-wars/a-female-led-construction-company-built-the-florida-bridge-that-collapsed/

Florida has been having its bad stroke of luck as of late. First the horrible tragedy in Parkland, and now this; Florida International University’s “instant bridge,” spontaneously collapsing earlier on Thursday. The two companies responsible for the poorly constructed bridge were MCM and Figg, both have a sketchy history when it comes to construction, but for today’s purposes, we’re going to focus on MCM, because there’s a valuable lesson that can be learned here.

That lesson is this; there are some things that women shouldn’t do. There are some things women can’t do. One of these is construction.

Though MCM is owned by five brothers, a lot of people one rung down the ladder from them are women. Some of the construction workers are even women. How ironic is it then, that earlier this month, MCM was slapped with a lawsuit for hiring “incompetent, inexperienced, unskilled or careless employees.” Fox reports:

The company is building an expansion to Fort Lauderdale International Airport and a worker there was injured when a makeshift bridge collapsed under his weight, the lawsuit says, according to the Winston Salem-Journal.

Leonor Flores, FIU alumna, and MCM project exec says her number one priority when building bridges is to make sure they look pretty. Nothing else matters:

“It’s very important for me as a woman and an engineer to be able to promote that to my daughter because I think women have a different perspective. We’re able to put in an artistic touch and we’re able to build too.”

No. You can’t build things. The bridge collapsed for no other reason than terrible structure. Though the death toll is currently at six, police say that the number is likely to rise. But no, let’s talk about how strong and powerful these women are. This company prides itself on how many women they hire, saying that it’s a big step towards gender equality. That’s not working out so far, is it? There’s a reason you don’t hear about women in construction; they’re not very good at it, and quite frankly, they don’t want to be. Women in MCM promote feminism when it’s convenient; when everybody’s looking tough and ready to conquer the world in their construction hat. But when their projects fail, and lives are lost, everyone wants to focus on all the men in the company. Nobody, not them or the mainstream media is talking about all these women and how they dropped the ball. None of them want to take responsibility, and that makes both the media and these women spineless cowards.

A tragic lesson in what happens when diversity and gender politics becomes more important than competence and professionalism. As one astute commentator on the above article points out:

“To be clear...There are talented and capable women in engineering, and probably even in construction.

The problem is not that the bridge project was lead by women. The problem is that these women were selected for the job based on factors irrelevant to building a bridge (Race and Sex). Political correctness got in the way of actual correctness. Physics don't care what race or sex you are, or if it isn't cool to collapse because 'grrrl power'. A bridge that doesn't support weight doesn't support weight. Mathematics is absolute.

What's worse, is that by giving priority to incompetents, they've inadvertently set back the cause of equality in STEM fields -- by giving cause for people to second guess their pro-female bias and potentially pass over a capable and qualified entrant to the field.“

[Foxie Loxie]

:star::star::star::star::star:Thanks for putting it so well, Jayke!!!

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Good analytical vid, and some great detective work Paul. Seems pretty clear cut at this stage. I was off with my guess as to the exact cause, but we were all on the right track: the bridge was simply not properly supported, and thus unsafe – especially with traffic running freely beneath it. Insane.

As for the gender politics...maybe there's something in it, maybe not. I'll let someone braver than me tackle that one!

[Bill Ryan]

A tragic lesson in what happens when diversity and gender politics becomes more important than competence and professionalism. As one astute commentator on the above article points out:

“To be clear...There are talented and capable women in engineering, and probably even in construction.

The problem is not that the bridge project was lead by women. The problem is that these women were selected for the job based on factors irrelevant to building a bridge (Race and Sex). Political correctness got in the way of actual correctness. Physics don't care what race or sex you are, or if it isn't cool to collapse because 'grrrl power'. A bridge that doesn't support weight doesn't support weight. Mathematics is absolute.

What's worse, is that by giving priority to incompetents, they've inadvertently set back the cause of equality in STEM fields -- by giving cause for people to second guess their pro-female bias and potentially pass over a capable and qualified entrant to the field.“


Wow. Amen to that. :clapping:

[Wind]

So political correctness got some people killed? Oh my.

[Jayke]

So political correctness got some people killed? Oh my.

Seems political correctness combined with corner cutting, profiteering, government overspend and planned obsolescence might be other contributing factors. I’ve not been following any of the Q anon material for a while but this article from the same website suggests a curious connection.

https://squawker.org/analysis/qbridge/
Obama Conspiracy At Core Of Florida Bridge Collapse? The Mysterious Q Thinks So.

Yesterday a tragic bridge collapse at Florida International University left six dead. In the hours since this horrific incident, it has come to light that the construction company behind the bridge, Munilla Construction Management has a history of questionable quality control stretching back for years. With the company even having been hit by a lawsuit over unsafe practices just a mere two weeks ago. A lawsuit that rather tellingly happens to center around a different bridge collapse the company also had a hand in.Given this history of failure, its fair enough to say the company certainly doesn’t have a reputation for high standards. Which makes it all the odder that Munilla has received multiple large government projects over the years. Including a $66 million dollar Pentagon contract to build the U.S. Navy’s new school in Guantanamo Bay.

A Munilla created drawing of the Navy building now under construction
So why exactly would the Pentagon hand over such a project to this questionable company, which just happens to be operated by a family of Cuban political exiles? It’s not exactly as if they didn’t have other options, as we do know the Department of Defense chose Munilla over an undisclosed second proposal from an American based rival. Some have suggested that Munilla keeps winning these large-scale deals because it also acts as a major political donor. In fact, new information indicates it only won the now infamous Florida University bridge contract due to such back-door political dealings. The Miami New Times reporting,

“To Miami-Dade County insiders, it was no shock when Munilla Construction Management beat out three other competitors to win a $14.2 million bid to build a high-tech pedestrian bridge at Florida International University. That’s because Munilla is not only one of the biggest contractors in South Florida but also one of the most politically connected thanks to years of shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaigns.”

Some, however, have been suggesting that things go far deeper than just your run of the mill political favors being passed around. These people including the famous anonymous Q poster, who for months now has been leaving cryptic messages online. Messages which have many believing Q is actually a high ranking Washington insider, with possible ties to President Trump or at least his administration.

Recently Q has been pushing the idea of a wide-ranging Anti-American conspiracy looking to weaken our basic infrastructure, primarily through the use of cheaply made foreign steel. The implication being that during the Obama era, contracts for new construction were intentionally being handed over to questionable companies using poor quality materials. All this part of a coordinated and intentional effort to harm the United States. In other words, precisely what happened with Munilla and their U.S. Navy school, a contract that was awarded back during Obama’s Presidency.

https://i2.wp.com/kek.gg/i/58pnV7.jpg?zoom=2&w=640&ssl=1

So could there be any truth to this? When the above post was made earlier this month, it didn’t particularly garner much attention. Now, however, in the wake of yet another piece of American infrastructure collapsing with deadly results, many are looking at this warning from a fresh perspective. The puzzle pieces beginning to come together to form an overall frightening picture, especially when you consider the company responsible for these deaths is also currently building an American Navy installation in Guantanamo Bay. All thanks to a contract granted by Obama’s Department of Defense. Like most Q posts it almost seems too crazy to be true, but if there is one thing we should all have learned from the past few years, is that keeping an open mind is never a bad idea. After all, some previously unbelievable stories have been confirmed only recently.

[Cidersomerset]

Collapsed Florida Bridge Was Built Using ‘Accelerated‘ Technology | NBC Nightly News

NBC News

hA1ZmiHj0FE
Published on 19 Mar 2018
Hundreds of bridges have been built using ABC (accelerated bridge technology).
They cost more money but are faster to build, reducing road delays.

[onawah]

Miami Bridge Failure Update 18 March 2018
blancolirio
GxQJj8D_FE0


Thanks to Blancolirio viewers we have new links providing further insights to what NTSB investigators will be looking at during their investigation.
https://facilities.fiu.edu/projects/BT_904/MCM_FIGG_Proposal_for_FIU_Pedestrian_Bridge_9-30-2015.pdf


I haven't been following this issue, but could the collapse have anything to do with the inferior steel that was imported to the US from Japan that has been in the news?
update: I had just heard that about inferior Japanese steel in the Qs and As part of Simon Parkes' latest Connecting Consciousness show here: 57NOaBIlgzU
...though when I googled "Inferior Japanese steel imported to US" nothing came up.

[Foxie Loxie]

I don't have a mechanical mind, but leave it to Blancolirio to have it figured out! Thanks, onawah, for posting his video! :highfive:

[ThePythonicCow]

Miami Bridge Failure Update 18 March 2018
blancolirio
GxQJj8D_FE0

Excellent video.

It is consistent with my conclusions from earlier in this thread, with a key additional bit of detail.

The tall tower with what looked like cables that appeared, in the planned design, to also provide significant load bearing capability, were NOT that. Rather they were primarily intended for aesthetics and stiffening, so their absence at the time of the failure does not explain the failure. Earlier in this thread I thought that those were load bearing cables, not yet installed, and that their absence might be part of the problem. Now, based on the evidence that blancolirio presents here, I think he's right and that the absence of these aesthetic and stiffening (not load bearing) steel pipes does not explain the failure.

The primary load bearing capability was in the portion that had already been installed, the walkway, roof and trusses at various angles between.

Blancoliro concludes, as I did, that it appears that a key tension rod failed; and that that failure is a primary suspect for the cause of the failure and collapse.

[ThePythonicCow]

I haven't been following this issue, but could the collapse have anything to do with the inferior steel that was imported to the US from Japan that has been in the news?
update: I had just heard that about inferior Japanese steel in the Qs and As part of Simon Parkes' latest Connecting Consciousness show here
I don't see any evidence that Simon Parkes has been following the Miami Bridge collase either :).

Simon mentions the sale of allegedly inferior Japanese steel to the US military, between the 6:30 and 7:20 marks of this nearly two hour long video, only to suggest that this means that the US military won't support the current Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in some upcoming political struggles.

[onawah]

I thought that since Parkes mentioned it, there might be some news about it elsewhere, as he claims not to support any story in the news unless he has two reliable sources corroborating it. So I posted those comments in case someone else could fill in the blanks.
Maybe just coincidental, or fake news, but perhaps it is connected to the news about steel tariffs, and got buried under all the other issues in question re that issue.


I haven't been following this issue, but could the collapse have anything to do with the inferior steel that was imported to the US from Japan that has been in the news?
update: I had just heard that about inferior Japanese steel in the Qs and As part of Simon Parkes' latest Connecting Consciousness show here
I don't see any evidence that Simon Parkes has been following the Miami Bridge collase either :).

Simon mentions the sale of allegedly inferior Japanese steel to the US military, between the 6:30 and 7:20 marks of this nearly two hour long video, only to suggest that this means that the US military won't support the current Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in some upcoming political struggles.

[Ba-ba-Ra]

Inferior steel not just from Japan, China as well.

As the second busiest bridge in the nation, the San Francisco Bay Bridge carries 270,000 cars each day between Oakland and San Francisco. (And keep in mind, we're talking earthquake faults here - that's why it was damaged in the first place.)

Back in 2013-15 when it was being rebuilt from earthquake damage, they had all kinds of problems with faulty steel. Bolts from China were not holding up; and they reported: " Mystery of the Brand-New Bay Bridge's Corroded Steel". As I recall they never said where the steel was from, but since the bolts were from China and since huge chunks of the span’s fabrication were outsourced to China – I can only guess that's where the steel was from as well.

Was it all replaced properly? I know the bolts were, causing huge delays and spiraling costs. As for the rest, being the cynic I tend to be, I suspect they changed their policy for stress tests for much of it.

[ThePythonicCow]

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) actually has an apparently useful update on the progress of their investigation, posted at https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180321.aspx

Amongst other things, they report that:

The investigative team has confirmed that workers were adjusting tension on the two tensioning rods located in the diagonal member at the north end of the span when the bridge collapsed. They had done this same work earlier at the south end, moved to the north side, and had adjusted one rod. They were working on the second rod when the span failed and collapsed. The roadway was not closed while this work was being performed.
This is consistent with my ongoing impression that this was not a "false flag" scheduled disaster event, but a more ordinary accumulation of human and institutional mistakes, fraud, bad judgement and bad luck. As such, the federal investigation actually appears to be investigating, rather than covering up.

As we surmised earlier in this thread, it seems that a tensioning rod failed, while undergoing adjustment.