Genoa: Motorway Bridge collapses - kills at least 22…

[arkitect]

Awful news.

Have driven over that bridge myself a couple times… en route to happy days on vacation.

I cannot imagine how horrifying it would have been for the drivers to suddenly feel the road give way — and you are 90m above ground.

A motorway bridge has collapsed near the northwest Italian city of Genoa, sending vehicles plummeting up to 90m (295ft) to the ground and killing at least 22 people, officials say.

Video footage appears to show one of the towers holding up the suspension bridge collapsing in stormy weather.

Vehicles fell along with bridge debris on to rail tracks.

BBC Link

 

[ChrisChaval]

that bridge was well beyond its use by date -- and they knew it

this combined with particularly bad weather, a slight death wobble caused by strong winds perhaps ...

it might have been more of a blessing than a curse that it is major holiday period in Italy right know, because some of the buildings underneath have been empty and the actual traffic might have been somewhat lighter than usual

anyway, RIP to all the poor innocent souls who lost their lives

 

[Gutwrench]

Truly awful indeed.

We had a 8 laned bridge collapse into the Mississippi River in 2007 during commute hour killing (luckily only) 13 people.

 

[arkitect]

that bridge was well beyond its use by date -- and they knew it.

A lot of Italy's road infrastructure is definitely not fit for purpose.

Of course now everybody snaps into action… probably looking at the major areas only while the precipitous backroads og Liguria and elsewhere are left cracking.

*sigh*

 

[ChrisChaval]

I am compelled to agree

there certainly is a lot of faith healing to be done

 

[PracticalMac]

A lot of Italy's road infrastructure is definitely not fit for purpose.

Of course now everybody snaps into action… probably looking at the major areas only while the precipitous backroads og Liguria and elsewhere are left cracking.

*sigh*

I read the bridge was being repaired, planned maintenance.
Not enough.

Meanwhile in the USA, hundreds of bridges are in similar condition, with no funding to repair, let alone replace.

 

[MacNut]

It looks like more than just poor maintenance, I wonder if the bridge was ever built to withstand wind and a traffic load. The span looked under supported.

 

[cube]

Move this to PRSI before I get suspended, as usual.

 

[MacTech68]

Condolences to any family & friends of those killed in this horrible disaster. Thoughts go to those in hospital in a serious condition.

Whilst the apparent shortcomings in design and maintenance are being mentioned by MSM, I'm wondering if this was a combination of events that exceeded the section's load carrying ability.

Other than the vehicles, wind loads, design and maintenance deficiencies, I'm wondering what additional loads were created by the 'torrential' downpour occurring at the time. The water that hits the decking does not flow over the sides, so I assume there are storm water drains in the decking that then carry the water inside the decking to land based drains. If the rain was truly as heavy as is being quoted, what effect did the storm water pipes being full of water have on the load the deck was carrying. That's a serious amount of additional weight.

There is also talk of 'shoring up' having been undertaken at the time. Was a structure added to carry loads that failed due to the weather? Only time will tell.

IMHO, human made disasters are usually a combination of events conspiring together to bring destruction, rather than a single reason.

Just my 2c