LOL years ago when I drove a 1999 Honda Civic whenever I would crossover that bridge my sphincter would clench up sooo tight. If I put a hand full of coal between my ass at the beginning of the bridge by the time I crossed I would have a J-Lo size diamond.
Major bridge collapse in Italy - dozens feared dead
- Thread starter Phil C. McNasty
- Start date
One former and one current pro-soccer player survived the 150 foot fall in his car.
Criscito had just passed over the bridge minutes before it collapsed.
Insane!!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/70164...e-survivor-italian-footballer-davide-capello/
Criscito had just passed over the bridge minutes before it collapsed.
Insane!!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/70164...e-survivor-italian-footballer-davide-capello/
I'm sure there's a Plan
However, given that we've been trying to manage without any new taxes since amalgamation. And looking at the state of other roads and bridges I see (not to mention one former Mayor encountering chunks of concrete falling from the Gardiner overhead) I'd very much doubt if we're up-to date on it.
Not to mention there's no money for the real overhaul it needs, and we can't afford even to tear it down, let alone pay for realigning it so we can build revenue-generating stuff where it now blocks development.
But all on its own it will fall down, for sure.
It looks from this photo reportedly taken a few weeks ago that this bridge should have been closed. Certainly I wouldn't feel comfortable driving over a bridge which looked like this.
Wow Aardie, that bridge was in terrible shape. Knowing the terrible risk how could they allow it to fall into such terrible disrepair? Genoa is also one of Europe's largest and busiest ports, the A7 runs unimpeded from Genoa to Rotterdam.
Serie A season kicks off this weekend. Genoa and Sampdoria fans are holding a vigil the night before kickoff.
Serie A season kicks off this weekend. Genoa and Sampdoria fans are holding a vigil the night before kickoff.
Wow. That is in terrible condition.
It looks from this photo reportedly taken a few weeks ago that this bridge should have been closed. Certainly I wouldn't feel comfortable driving over a bridge which looked like this.
Note also that it has a drop in centre panel. Very similar to the bridge that collapsed in Quebec maybe 10 years ago. The Engineers on that one got needlessly artsie in their designs and in fact, followed a European style design (note in that photo above how the substructure is designed needlessly complicated in a V shape. Fuck that. Keep it simple, just a nice straight block of concrete in the vertical orientation rather than introducing all kinds of whacked out loading.)
The above photo shows how the bridge that collapsed in Quebec in 2006 was constructed with a drop in centre panel. The centre panel is supported entirely on a ledge of sorts. In the case of the bridge in Quebec, the ledge failed and down went the bridge. There is only 1 path for the load to be supported. (The ledge) If it fails, down goes the bridge. (Contrast to the Gardiner Expressway (say) which has multiple load paths and redundancy.)
Hard to say if Genoa is the same problem. But the design appears to be the same.
A simplification of the bridge in Quebec that collapsed in 2006. Note the substructure design and the drop in panel. If there was a conventional pier under that joint, it never would have happened because the entire pier would have had to collapse and there is incredible redundancy. Again, using the Gardiner as an example, you could cut one of the girders in half with a flame torch and the deck would still stand. You could saw cut the pier cap in half, the deck would still stand. You could even blow out one of the columns and the bridge would list over, but not collapse. The Gardiner, as designed, is super strong. (The deterioration that you see is not currently the end of the world as the bridge is giving you lots of warning that it needs to be repaired.)
The designers of the bridge in Quebec got needlessly creative. The designers of the bridge in Genoa also got needlessly creative. Keep it simple stupid. Sure, put on lots of nice details. I'm all for super fancy stone veneers, wrought iron railings, art work in lighting, artistic reliefs, even statues, etc. But structure? No way. Keep it simple.
Ain't it puzzling how Roman bridges are still in use 2000 years after their construction and modern bridges can't last more than 50 years.
With mostly land beneath the substructure, would it have been too much ask to support it with arches? Then all they would have to deal with road repairs. Silly architects!
With mostly land beneath the substructure, would it have been too much ask to support it with arches? Then all they would have to deal with road repairs. Silly architects!
How were they allowed to construct a bridge that has a single point of failure/load? That should literally be illegal.Wow. That is in terrible condition.
Note also that it has a drop in centre panel. Very similar to the bridge that collapsed in Quebec maybe 10 years ago. The Engineers on that one got needlessly artsie in their designs and in fact, followed a European style design (note in that photo above how the substructure is designed needlessly complicated in a V shape. Fuck that. Keep it simple, just a nice straight block of concrete in the vertical orientation rather than introducing all kinds of whacked out loading.)
The above photo shows how the bridge that collapsed in Quebec in 2006 was constructed with a drop in centre panel. The centre panel is supported entirely on a ledge of sorts. In the case of the bridge in Quebec, the ledge failed and down went the bridge. There is only 1 path for the load to be supported. (The ledge) If it fails, down goes the bridge.
When smart people do stupid things it's so much worse, because they know better!
Well, don't look now, but the Ogden Avenue pedestrian bridge over the QEW between Dixie and Cawthra is the exact same type of design - drop in centre panel. After the Quebec bridge collapse in 2006, someone beefed up the support ledge (or corbel I suppose). Drive a little faster when you pass under it!
I drove on this bridge in 1990 and even then it looked dodgy. Indeed most of the autostrada's in Genoa are built inbetween apartment buildings and then once you're away from the coastal plain there it is mountains that are hard to penetrate with roads.
I do recall going from Torino to Savona (to the west of Genoa), the autostrada lanes are 2 or 3 km apart (northbound vs southbound) and a couple of times I went into a tunnel that did 360 degrees in a tunnel so that I exited beneath where I entered. Crazy design that I'm sure wouldn't be attempted here. Like the Kicking Horse pass for cars.
There will be a nationwide mass funeral for the victims of the bridge collapse on Saturday. The Genoa - Fiorentina and the Sampdoria - Milan matches have been postponed. By Friday perhaps the start of Serie A will be delayed.
It may be jumping on the grave of Riccardo Morandi, but I've heard people saying that one of his other bridges has had problems and that Antonio Brencich of the University of Genoa has said that Morandi was “an engineer with great insight, but lacking in practical calculations, including miscalculations as to how reinforced concrete ages, right away the bridge manifested various problems."
Agree with Insidious Von's comment above about using an arched bridge instead.
Agree with Insidious Von's comment above about using an arched bridge instead.
I know what you mean. As a kid my family drove over the Silver Bridge less than two hours before its collapse, that sort of thing sticks with you.I've never been crazy about going over the Burlington Skyway, or Garden City in St Catherines.
Thanks a bunch for putting my fears of bridges to rest.
Jesus, know I'm gonna go over them at 160 KM, and white knuckled.
Like you said, that's no small bridge that went down either. Incredible.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/mult...cle_89262253-73c6-53d9-a1a9-9d027cdbd755.html
I don't think I've ever traveled over the Skyway without thinking about it. And yes, I drive over it way too fast.
KK
That was the trend back then, artistic expression over functionality. Signiore Morandi was following the trend established Viljo Revell who designed our City Hall. Toronto didn't wean itself off that drug until the ultra thin sound within RH Hall. It's time to demolish that money pit.
Wow how lucky you were!
Engineering historian Henry Petroski in his 2012 book To Forgive Design called this bridge collapse "a cautionary tale for engineers of every kind". He further stated it was "a design that inadvertently made inspection all but impossible and failure all but inevitable. It's legacy should be to remind engineers to proceed always with the utmost caution, ever mindful of the possible existence of unknown unknowns and the potential consequences of even the smallest design decisions".
Quoting one of the great writers on the concrete — in more senses than one — realities large and small of daily life and its mechanics. Did someone make this your day Aardie?
The Ponte Milvio is the best preserved Roman Bridge in the city of Rome. Most of the others were rebuilt on Roman foundations. It connects the Trastevere with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Olimpico. The motor traffic goes across the Ponte Flaminio further east, Milvio is strictly pedestrian. It has stood at it's location since the Dictatorship of Sulla in the 1st Century BC. It has historical significance, the battle for the fate of Christianity between Constantine and Maxentius took place there.
