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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo Now There Will Be A Long Investigation About What Caused FL Walkway Collapse
Maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with the stress test they were doing. There is a video out there where you can see the collapse occur, and it's obvious that they were doing some sort of pressure test at the exact spot where the collapse developed. But I guess they have to spend months and countless amount of $$$$$$$$$$ to come to that same conclusion.
It probably also has something to do with not having the supports that were supposed to hold the bridge from above, which were not present yet.
The bottom line is that this all could have been just a walkway collapse, worthy of mention on the local Miami news, if they had bothered to do the testing while the road was closed to traffic. I said it in another thread yesterday, you don't test the brakes on a car with a person standing in the road as the car approaches. You don't test whether a bridge will collapse, using the assumption that it WON'T collapse. What exactly was the reason for the test? It's pathetic.
Everyone from the school, to the county, city, state, contractors, etc., will get sued over this. I'm not sure you can blame those who did the design, because the bridge was not currently in the final state indicated by the design, and it seems realistic that the designers never envisioned it being opened in this condition, or perhaps even tested. I guess that will be interesting to see who had knowledge there would be a stress test, if it wasn't complete, or if those who approved the initial construction, were on board with the stress that was being tested just days after putting the bridge into place, without upper support.
But where ultimate blame, and the most liability should be directed, are to those who approved the conducting of testing during the middle of day during the workweek, when there was probably more traffic passing below than any other time. That is something you either do between 10 PM & 6 AM, or something that you close the roadway down for. Even if it means inconvenient detours for drivers. It happens from time to time here in CA, and you commuters suffer for a few extra minutes, instead of risking getting crushed by a bridge being tested against collapse.
Sometimes I wonder how much people really value life. It seems like thoughts & prayers make up for lack of care and forethought, as if that absolves feelings of blame. These deaths were 100% preventable. Even restrictions on guns won't reach that level of prevention. So when any of those truly responsible make the claim that this collapse could not be foreseen, they're Full Of Crap. That's not even the issue. The issue is what safety measures were in place, just in case. Unless a collapse was IMPOSSIBLE, and "could not be foreseen." If that is the case, then why even bother with the stress testing?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)as happens sometimes with those investigations, so I'm not jumping to any conclusions. And there's almost always more than one cause, especially in complex situations like this one.
BootinUp
(47,186 posts)PJMcK
(22,048 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)That simple - no accident - this was abject negligence.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,895 posts)Whatever turns out to have been the underlying cause, steps will be taken, new regulations will be passed, to make sure it doesn't happen again. And while I don't want to sound like the number of dead doesn't matter, those six (I believe I also heard nine at some point) unfortunate dead will be the catalyst to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Meanwhile, dozens, hundreds, even thousands of school children can be murdered and nothing is done.
Takket
(21,625 posts)Sneederbunk
(14,300 posts)Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)I'm a night person so I have to deal with it. No big deal. They put up digital roads signs well in advance, sometimes two weeks or more in advance. It details when the closure will happen and for how long. This has been going on for months recently on SW 117th Avenue, further south of the FIU campus but very close to the hospital where the victims were taken. It is only a few miles from the collapsed bridge.
SW 8th St. can be a nightmare during the day but it is not heavily used late at night in that area. The only possible reason I can think of for not wanting to close that stretch of 8th St. is that it feeds directly to the Florida Turnpike not far away.
Regardless, it was a stupid and tragic choice. If you look at the celebration from last weekend when the bridge was put into place, 8th. St. was obviously closed and you had big shots standing there in the middle of the road preening for the cameras.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)Posted tonight by the Miami Herald:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article205637539.html
Note all the people who rushed out of their cars to run forward and try to help. Then some cars backed out and tried to leave.
It is obviously the north side of the bridge that failed. That is the left side of the video.