Accelerated Arrogance: The FIU Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

The FIU Sweetwater Pedestrian Bridge Collapse from March 15, 2018 was completely preventable and the story of how it happened took more twists of negligence, complacency & ego than you might think. This Miami Tragedy is yet another engineering turning point we can all learn from.
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What You Haven't Seen Original Video: • FIU Pedestrian Bridge ...
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[@BrickImmortar]

Hey everyone, hope you're having a good weekend! Toss a Coin to your Researcher? Thanks to the Immortar Supporters! Patreon: www.patreon.com/BrickImmortar

[@pointcuration1278]

Research dollas are dollas well spent yo

[@BrickImmortar]

Much appreciated Point Curation!

[@jennythedancer]

Just subbed to your Patreon! Love your vids!!

[@stevecopper1667]

There's a lot of stuff collapsing down there lately is it just me or is Florida literally falling apart That's not meant to be a joke I live there for most of my life and I hate that place but still even I'm looking at this like what's going on here

[@stupidminotaur9735]

3-4 different groups of civil engineers looked into this bridge all said this was bad. 1 after another, took them them 5 tries to find someone/group to say this bridge is good to go,. they also loaded on top of the bridge tons of weight it was not designed to hold. they should have been put on the side of road/ on the grass,

[@borisbadaxe9678]

When a major crack was discovered a few months ago on the Hernando Desoto bridge crossing the Mississippi river at Memphis, the inspector immediately called 911 and had the bridge shut completely down. He took direct action instead of simply passing the information up the chain of command.

[@ladysaraofinsomnia2334]

Good, that's wonderful to hear someone made a competent and educated decision to err on the side of caution to prevent any potential tragedies. If only more people would act like this person did, these kinds of terrible events could be more readily prevented.

[@2paulcoyle]

The crack was there for a couple of years and went unnoticed by paid inspectors.

[@notbigtony]

that guy is a genius.

[@hebneh]

And didn't he get in trouble for doing this? At least, initially? I seem to remember that.

[@holyworrier]

@@2paulcoyle - Lately, after more expert analysis of the crack, it has been decided that it had been there since the '70s. Since shortly after the bridge was built.

[@M1911jln]

I was a civil engineer during my previous career. I simply cannot understand why the engineers on site didn’t immediately shutdown traffic and evacuate the construction site when they saw that cracking. It is just unbelievable. Every engineer on site should lose their license.

[@channelsixtysix066]

Yes, loud cracking sound as it was put in place and the gaping cracks that opened up in the concrete, should have provided something of a hint. I was stunned, no action at all was taken. Ridiculous.

[@VeganAtheistWeirdo]

Welcome to Florida. 😖

[@donmoore7785]

The cracking occurred days earlier, before traffic was even an issue.

[@frankorobinson1540]

Money was more important than human safety as usual,,I see shoddy construction everywhere i look ,they just don't care ,its a shame so many have lost there lifes

[@mesenteria]

My guess is a bit of group-think, but honestly a large part of it is your multi-tasking mindset that thinks walking around looking at your smart phone is a good and defensible use of your time. IOW, distractions from the job, and also not valuing First Principles in Engineering. Even so, when the chips are all down, the leader of the organization gets to have his knuckles rapped.

[@jpjpjp453]

"Bridges as art" Sometime we just need a bridge to simply be a bridge.

[@frevazz3364]

Unfortunately a microcosm of Miami- beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside. Gaudy style over substance.

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

There are hundreds of steel truss pedestrian bridges in use every day with no problems. Why re-invent the wheel?

[@mungbean345]

As an artist, I'm still 100% for function over form in objects we use. I don't think something is beautiful if it doesn't first completely fulfill its intended purpose well. Supply exceptional craftsmanship, and *then* show off with a flourish if you wish-that's beauty to me. What a travesty that aesthetics played into this so prominently.

[@axMf3qTI]

Imagine having a 8 lane road going straight hrough the city and trying to solve that problem with bridges.

[@jpjpjp453]

@@axMf3qTI You must live in a place where it's all single lane country roads. 8 lanes is nothing nothing for a major city.

[@MrDlt123]

Testing a cracked bridge with people below is like having a guy replace wing rivets while the plane's in flight. That's not just disregard, it's IDGAF.

[@paddington1670]

if there was EVER a need for a clipboard safety warrior with some red tape and delineators, it was right there.

[@fleotusleotus8642]

Its all about the $$$

[@stimulus3177]

The engineer went on TV and said it wasn't a safety issue. WHAT KIND OF ISSUE IS IT THEN, YOU MORON? Dude should be in jail for 6 counts of manslaughter.

[@bobwhite8276]

The design even looked unsafe, but to ignore the cracking... Unbelievable....

[@roshshow]

hindsight is 20/20

[@dumbguy9386]

It boggles the mind that they put up a suspension support structure and then didn't use it (I understand to be usable it would have to be built for it but they must have spent at least 50% of the cost on what was put up)

[@punker4Real]

Seems to be a common occurrence in Miami surfside

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Yeah, I'm not a bridge maker but that longer portion with nothing under it to stabilize it just looks wrong. But I know I would trust the "professionals", because what do I know? But it looked wrong...and sadly, that was correct.

[@TheThora17]

Absolutely unbelievable!

[@pmberry]

"This would be a massive amount of additional static load for the sake of aesthetics alone." I had to pause the video there to let out a sigh.

[@pmberry]

"This would be a massive amount of additional static load for the sake of aesthetics alone." Just realised that's a statement that could be levelled at the Hyatt Regency walkways as well.

[@psikogeek]

Quote is just after 5:55. Incidentally, the tall stays exert a dynamic wind load in addition to the usual static loads mentioned.

[@asimian8500]

And lack of redundancy with no room for miscalculation on top of the massive static and dynamic wind load was a burning red flag. It was doomed at the design level especially with an incompetent contractor who didn't have the know how to calculate the stresses and certify the bridge design.

[@OmegaZyion]

And to think, instead of making look like a cabled bridge, they could have made it a cabled bridge and provided more support to a structure that a first year engineering student would say was unsound.

[@OmegaZyion]

@@gunsumwong3948 Completely agree, but at least if it was cables under tension it would have been allot better than a bunch of dead weight sitting on top of the bridge. It is possible to make asymmetrical cable designs if you know what you're doing. But I doubt the people who designed this bridge could design their way out of a paper bag.

[@StereoSpace]

A 'single point of failure' design was, astoundingly, accepted for a bridge over a major intersection. Unbelievable. And when early signs of failure appeared, they were ignored. Again, unbelievable.

[@daminox]

Even if the bridge were somehow completed without any issues a single person with a sledge hammer could have whacked a few times on the 11/12 truss and brought down the entire bridge. Horrible, horrible design.

[@eddarby469]

... and somehow it appears the EOR will escape the responsibility of the failure of his design under its own self weight.

[@misium]

Single point of failure in itself is not the main problem. The problem was you need to 1) design 2) build that point with enough marigin.

[@martysk8r]

The unbelievable happens because people don't believe it could happen.

[@jasonboisseau409]

I think it’s actually beyond unbelievable and borderline criminal.

[@Relkond]

So they used a new rapid process (expect surprises) to assemble a newly designed bridge (expect surprises) with modified plans (expect surprises) that included some design principles at odds with common sense (expect surprises) paired with a non-redundant design (where one failure can wreck the entire bridge). Sounds like a situation ripe for surprise lessons.

[@thefez-cat]

Technically, ABC wasn't exactly new. The real problem with this rapid build method being used here was that they decided they had to do it with this ABC process _and_ do it faster than ever before to show off.

[@cpm1003]

@@thefez-cat I think it was the odd design that doomed them.

[@darcycardinal6275]

Such a risky project!

[@asimian8500]

The Group Think was what doomed the project. I have no doubt that engineers on the ground understood (to some extent) what was happening, but didn't place any objections due to group think and not rocking the boat. To give another example, Chinese Biosafety Level 3+ labs have serious safety issues due to group think. If a lab technician sees someone with a hole in their suit, they won't say anything to not rock the boat. In one insistence this group think led to a SARS outbreak from a BSL-3 lab.

[@KrustyKlown]

Oh, you worry too much .. all they needed to do was tighten up a few pre-tension rods, again, and again, and....

[@jamesgoss1860]

The cruel irony is that the purpose of this bridge was to save lives. Safety should have been the focus of this project, not boasting a new way to make bridges. Everyone involved was more concerned about "how", they forgot the "why".

[@stevencooke6451]

The purpose of the project often gets lost. In this case, with tragic results.

[@hermanrobak1285]

@@cr10001 When I got to the part about the "ornamental" tower and make-believe suspension "cables", I started scrolling through the comments, looking for WTFs.

[@andrewtaylor940]

The crueler irony is if they had just taken an off the shelf design of a common and dependable Pedestrian Bridge, It would have saved lives, been in place faster, with less disruption of traffic. And would do the job for the next 50 years at a fraction of the cost of this 'artistic bridge".

[@andrewtaylor940]

@@stevie-ray2020 Engineering Students generally aren’t this needlessly stupid. They may blow a calculation. But they won’t increase the Bridges Dead Load tenfold in order to make it some sort of art piece, while stripping out any and all redundancy, and putting the trusses each at odd unique angles in order to completely f**k with the bridges load balancing. You need to be a certified and celebrated Expert In Your Field to be that kind of Stupid. The Engineering Students likely could have had a solid functional but mundane pedestrian bridge installed in under 6 months, and for under $1 million in cost. And it would have lasted 50-60 years with minimal routine maintenance. Y’know like standard pedestrian bridges all over North America.

[@hermanrobak1285]

@@andrewtaylor940 I'm cutting Elon Musk some slack for his "make it more pointy" about the Starship. But if he wanted ORNAMENTAL guy-wires on the launch tower, I would facepalm.

[@bouteilledeau1463]

Gotta love when the University's "Accelerated Bridge Construction" program, that they apparently proudly specialize in, was a huge factor in the tragedy. Those guys make Engineers who are really skilled in the domain, and that skill just killed 6 people.

[@vrettos99]

literally the biggest thing my engineering uni stressed even before this accident took place, is that time is never the priority safety is. FIU's program literally goes 100% against it as its main focus is pace instead of safety. mind boggling stuff being pushed by a school

[@csmlouis]

I heard about the FIU ped bridge incident years back before learning their ABC from this video. I immediately thought of Accelerated Bridge Collapse. Why don't anybody mastering something from the most basic anymore? Not the boring I-beam bridge!! We higher education folks wants the edgy adventurous unproven design where we pride ourselves in no redundancy.

[@Nilboggen]

Engineers are always thinking outside reality but that's why you have an independent group look over your plans and then even more important you hire a construction manager. The construction manager should have stopped everything when they saw cracks no matter what an engineer says. I think I blame Munilla Construction Management the most for the accident. It doesn't matter what you are building whether its a bridge, a dam, a skyscraper, or a shed if it can collapse and kill people you stop everything when you see cracks in a structural part of the project. Never trust someone that has to hop an airplane to come see what you are telling them.

[@melody3741]

It wasn't the engineer and it wasn't idiots - they tried to save money by not doing a full load calculation.

[@2paulcoyle]

@@melody3741 Should of done dynamic loads. The struture was designed to be moble. And used that way. Later it was to be a fixed structure, I suppose. I wonder, doubt they did hurricane loading, or kids being stupid and being kids, make the bridge bounce.

[@operator8014]

This is an example of something that was designed, but not engineered.

[@SteamCrane]

Well stated.

[@gailtaylor1636]

@@SteamCrane VERY!

[@oldschoolman1444]

All looks and no engineering is failure waiting to happen. The huge cracks were the red flag sadly ignored.

[@maplesyrup6529]

@@oldschoolman1444 I think at that point, calling the cracks "red flags" is a GIANT understatement

[@ghost307]

There was a saying that I heard when I was in Engineering school years ago. A building built by Architects without Engineers will fall down; a building built by Engineers without Architects may be so ugly that someone will make you take it down.

[@thefez-cat]

The part where a bunch of people looked at giant, inches-deep cracks and thought "Eh, we can patch that" is infuriatingly bad enough. But the cracks are in the one part of the bridge they apparently expected to do most of the work, and they _still_ put the thing over eight lanes of traffic? When someone with an utterly amateur level of understanding of engineering can look at a thing and go "Uh, yeah, that looks a lot like it's about to find a really exciting way to become lots of _little_ pieces of concrete," surely someone with degrees and expertise and experience *knew* this was going to fail disastrously.

[@calvinsmith6681]

That's the thing. They did know that it was going to fall. There's absolutely no way that they couldn't have known. But narcissistic groupthink took over and prevented anyone from speaking out against FIGG and their braindead design. FIGG cared more about the aesthetics of the project than whether or not it would actually be able to hold itself up.

[@thefez-cat]

@@calvinsmith6681 Hubris and public image did so much damage on this. The only real bright spot, if you want to call it that, is that it fell apart during construction, and not when there were fifty or sixty or even more students trooping across it, with all eight lanes running below, plus the bus lane.

[@pmberry]

All just so they didn't have to close a road for, what, a few weeks? There's a grid system of roads: a detour is not only instantly available but easy to follow from 5 seconds looking at a map.

[@bocahdongo7769]

Typical upper management. Not only in this case, but also another case across the speciality If they don't see themselves with their eyes how fucked up it was, they will shrugs it of and if something does happen, they will blame someone below like that's not their business anymore

[@guymarentette2317]

Then there's the "If we can pull this off in the short time we're allowing, think of all the future business we can drum up" line of reasoning.

[@TracyA123]

Its almost impossible to believe that those cracks were so moronically ignored. I'm no engineer but if I were building a concrete patio by myself and cracks like that appeared I would stop. How is it that such common sense was non-existent in any of the parties involved?

[@macstmanj3]

Well, someone probably noticed, passed it up, and someone with no technical or practical understanding said "well that sounds like something that would mess with the budget and schedule. I'm sure it'll be fine."

[@sunnohh]

It’s cheaper to defer inspection and maintenance, so are bad building standards.

[@G1NZOU]

It does seem to be the culture in engineering firms where after a disaster safety measures and procedures are introduced, where engineers can flag problems and it can get sorted and emergency measures, evacuations, road closures etc. can be done, but after a few years higher ups will get complacent and shoot those ideas down, citing cost concerns and deadlines, "no of course we can't evacuate this building, we're in the middle of the day of trading, let's wait till the evening" "those cracks aren't concerning, we can still allow traffic to cross and schedule some remedial maintenance two months from now". It's always the same cycle, accident causes a new look at safety, new safety procedures make industry safer, industry starts to ignore safety procedures cause they forgot how serious the consequences are, accident happens.

[@dagwoodsingleton6202]

There’s cracks appearing in the government.

[@BlastinRope]

Engineering isnt about common sense, its about math

[@yaysimonsays151]

Bridge builders: ‘if we rush the construction of this bridge, we will only need to block traffic for a few hours!’ **Cue bridge collapsing and blocking road for several days as it is cleaned up and investigated.**

[@MarcelaElviraTimis]

*cue ... is the word you need. The message is a good point made

[@MongooseTacticool]

You forgot the several deaths. 🙁

[@whyask5461]

When they tried to "retension" the 11/12 node they only increased the lateral stress on a joint that was obviously already failing laterally. This wasn't a "hail Mary" attempt to "stabilize" the bridge. It was an irrational decision that highlights the engineering incompetence that is so blatantly shown in this contract. The scope of the "wishful thinking" involved in ignoring this impending failure beggars belief.

[@ronblack7870]

yes exactly the retensioning made it worse and the complete failure of the engineers to understand the load at the nodes is what sealed the deal.there are incompetent people in all orgs .

[@gustheriaga1654]

The fact that NO REGARD FOR THE CONSTRUCTION SAFETY was considered should put them all in jail!!!

[@gustheriaga1654]

Time to start properly funding the OSHA construction inspectors, long overdue. Go OSHA!!!

[@seka1986]

Did they think the huge cracks would magically heal and vanish?

[@vivianloney]

Yeah I am just a geology student with a geotech class under my belt and I was floored. They added shear stress to a structure with tensile cracks ready for rupture, to.... fix it. Ok.

[@iansotham4565]

Late commenter, but as a Miami native I remember this happening. It was insane to think about. My dad is a professor at FIU. The day before the collapse he passed under the bridge on his way home, the same as he does every day. After the collapse I distinctly remember him telling me he felt a weird vibe driving under it, and sitting in traffic under it made him nervous. Call it paranoia, or call it intuition. He came home early the day of the collapse and I remember sitting on the couch watching the news break wondering god forbid if he’d been under it if he left at his usual time, sitting in Miami’s notorious bumper to bumper traffic under it.

[@chiroquacker2580]

I worked for another state college in Florida for 13 years and have a good idea about how they operate. For FIU, this was in my opinion a penis measuring contest to show how their college of engineering is better than their 'competitors' colleges of engineering. FIU isn't as well known as other more established public universities in Florida such as FSU and UF. The administration is jealous, so they decide to build a really cool bridge to show how awesome they are in the hopes of getting the best and brightest high school graduates to apply to FIU instead of FSU or UF. The fact that the bridge was unnecessarily complicated and more expensive for the taxpayer was irrelevant. It's all about the prestige and getting more money for their foundation in the future since the best and brightest will be the best donors in the future. Being a solid regional school with a decent college of engineering wasn't enough, they wanted bragging rights! There is nothing wrong with being an average state college catering to B- students, but the folks at FIU who pushed for this bridge are more interested in bragging with their golf buddies and being able to show off their statistics in a slick PowerPoint demonstration when they attend various higher education conventions.

[@whazzat8015]

? Faith based engineering.

[@tamlandipper29]

I mean boosting graduates would pay off long term. Failing at the core task of engineering doesn't invalidate the benefit any more than burning my pizza means I'm not hungry.

[@vdpeer]

You may be right, but somehow your post comes across being petulant and sounding revengeful. Any chance you had a bad experience with that institution? Is that perhaps a reason for the vitriol?

[@pissip]

This is exactly how college works these days. They pay for fancy stadiums and art projects rather than improving classrooms and staff. It's ridiculous. And yet we still pay tuition, pass laws to pay these idiots with taxpayer money instead of passing laws to reduce tuition in the first place. 🤡

[@elkincorrea22]

FIU ranked #4 best public university but go off brother

[@chrisbullock3504]

This happened during my junior year of a civil engineering degree and my concrete & structural professors used this as a great showing of how what we learned in those classes was important. I have since graduated and am a field engineer and i must say, if anything like those cracks happened on my project, i would put my foot down with my superiors emphatically. We as civil engineers have a moral and ethical obligation to uphold the inherent trust the public place on us. ANY and ALL violations of that trust must not be allowed to happen freely. Any civil engineer of any kind would be able to see the incredible flaws in this situation before catastrophe and even if it cost me my job, i would have closed the road myself and dealt with the consequences later and in writing. No amount of lives are worth fixing this. FIG were rightfully disbarred for this and any attempt to rationalize what they said/did is beyond conversation.

[@executivesteps]

There must be thousands of bridges in the US that span that width and have stood solidly for decades. Why is it that every new bridge has to be a unique work of art? “We’re not only engineers but we’re artists too”. The false cable stay design has to be the ultimate absurdity.

[@chasedavidson2855]

I feel like a real cable stay would've looked better and supported it better

[@whazzat8015]

Look at Caltrava's failed Dallas bridge. Donor's eat it up. But won't stand under it.

[@Numantino312]

it's the hipster / foodie view of things. why, don't you want things to be exciting? ""Why is it that every new bridge has to be a unique work of art? “We’re not only engineers but we’re artists too”. ""

[@scottrosenthal3437]

It at least would make sense if the cable-stayed addition served the purpose they are intended for: to support the bridge! Absurd. They saw huge cracks and didn't close it to traffic. You can't be that dumb. Must have been Q-Anon Engineering, Inc. Can't bring the victims back. Anyone involved should lose their license.

[@Numantino312]

@@k.c1126 it's miami. nothing in miami is real.

[@bretwalley4673]

they saw significant structural cracking in the bridge, but they left the road open, this was criminal, unfortunately no one was charged. At a minimum the PE's should have lost their license. Several people should be in prison over this.

[@btafan11]

"It's just spalling" is the new "It's just a flesh wound"

[@bretwalley4673]

@@btafan11 that was not just spalling, for such blatant disregard for public safety, several people should have went to prison over this.

[@McSnezzly]

unfortunately once the government is part of the blame they can make the blame go away

[@gailtaylor1636]

@@bretwalley4673 Two things: #1.You don't get sarcasm. #2 You aren't familiar with Monte Python?

[@lindseygordon3406]

No one pays with these things, even in the UK, because government bodies are usually involved in some decisions, nearly 100 were burned alive untill bone fragments in the Grenfell incident, still no one has paid for all the incompetences

[@bobjohnson5486]

Everything has to be eye-catching and unique. Just build a stinking functional bridge.

[@hindugoat2302]

you end up with an ugly soviet style city, where everything is just plain and boring Its not the eye catching design at fault but the engineers failures. Such incompetence will cause disaster on any project, decorative or functional.

[@arthurnonimus]

@@hindugoat2302 What is the price of eye candy? Arrogance is deadly, I'll take functional and safe over artsy and risking collapse any day.

[@doubtful_seer]

@@hindugoat2302 there are other ways and places to implement creativity. A bridge that lives depend on to be sound isn’t the place. Hell, they could hang murals from the side of it instead of screwing up the structure.

[@tiryaclearsong421]

@@hindugoat2302 They could also do less to make it eye catching. There is beauty in simple, functional design. A simple bridge made of self washing concrete could have been functional and beautiful. Architecture does not have to be made in a brutalist style to be functional and safe.

[@effluviah7544]

I'm an artist, and I agree. There are ways to make beautiful bridges that are both simple and functional, safe and structurally sound. A lot of the contemporary/creative designs are so unnecessarily complex or have blatant problems, and I don't understand why they can't just hire a creative team that might have more sound design concepts to bring to the planning sessions. I'm no engineer, but I sure as hell do a lot of design including sculptural and a small amount of conceptual building design (the art and visualisation parts only), and I can think of a hundred ways to make a plain structure into something aesthetically pleasing within the context of it's location/environment-- Which is exactly what you need for a solid, safe bridge concept. No need for extravagant bullshit, just make something nice and sturdy and pretty. It really isn't difficult and doesn't require much messing around, all things considered. It can be done, and I'm not sure why all these contemporary bridges have to be so precarious and over-designed. I've participated in an event where we helped re-deco a bridge, in collaboration with people who actually know shit about structural engineering and safety because that's how that should work, and it was a huge success. We helped re-paint it-- That alone does a hell of a lot to make a plain bridge gorgeous in a subtle and satisfying way. Two things, from my arts background point of view: Artists need to collaborate more closely with architects/engineers/construction team members on any creative infrastructure project to ensure the safety and functionality of any conceptual creative design, and this close collaboration should begin as early as possible in the design and creative process to ensure designs are informed by expert opinion from the get-go. Saves a lot of time and bullshit, and helps ensure an actually good, creative, safe project comes out of it. And engineers/architects/construction experts/etc. should know that it is 10000% okay for you to push back as hard as you want if there is any part of a creative structural design that you don't think looks or feels right. And please do let creatives ask you questions; I know we might get annoying, but we want to know so that we can be informed and have expert knowledge to rely on during our parts of the process. Design/art teams working with architectural teams should also ask and see what training may be available for the sake of the project. When I did the bridge project, which was mostly restoring and re-decorating a local bridge, I did every safety module that was made available to us. I asked questions and listened to those with expert construction and architectural experience, which better informed both teams on our respective ideas and why some things aren't good and some things are perfectly fine to do. In my case, this was a fairly small local community project, but it was safe and nobody was hurt because we all collaborated effectively and communication was good. Every team involved behaved responsibly, and I appreciate the engineers who put up with my constant questions. Some people still called it boring, but I'd rather have a boring bridge than a bridge that kills people! And nobody called it ugly, so as far as I'm concerned, my job as part of the art/decor team was done. :)

[@eptyr12]

FIGG was removed from the Corpus Christi ship channel bridge project as well. It was one of those design as you go projects so a lot of the bridge is already in place except the main span over the channel itself. The city is having a hard time finding a new firm to complete the design because no one wants to use someone else’s pier design if they are responsible for the integrity of the span.

[@levanataylor790]

As of December 2021 it's settled that the existing piers will be demolished and rebuilt. The firm they hired to replace them is the same one that did an independent review of FIGG's design and declared it flawed. I'm a little uneasy about that -- is the review truly independent if the firm is expecting the possibility of a future contract? They should maybe have been barred from it upfront.

[@kayleedinkel8662]

The fact the completion date went from 4 years when FIGG was on the project to 8 years when they got fired is astonishing

[@Therealestrunnerluda]

That’s BS

[@planescaped]

At least one good thing came out of this, FIGG as a company is very likely done and deservedly so. Someone's gonna lose a lot of money.

[@davidbryant3532]

The city is not having a hard time...it's not a city issue

[@SynchroSk8]

I just can’t believe they didn’t close the road when things started to get serious. Seriously, I am just so miffed on how the project got this far. Thank you for breaking it down.

[@SynchroSk8]

So sad that this was built to protect lives on a dangerous and busy street…

[@BrickImmortar]

Yeah, the whole thing ended up just so wrong and the twists and turns while researching... whew, I had to take a step back in disbelief more than a few times.

[@katiebanks7460]

@SynchroSk8 Having gone to school there and living nearby years after, traffic is a nightmare in that area. As an adult I would drive from my house to FIU for alumni events, on paper it should take 15 minutes but in Sweetwater it would take an hour if not more. That is why the city probably didn't want to close down that road. Not saying it was right cause it was downright dumb. But they weren't thinking

[@jamesm3471]

This is easily one of KZbin’s most underrated channels, perhaps, criminally underrated even. Thank you for all the fascinating content! It’s much appreciated.

[@Lownamebrand]

100% agreed I wish I had the drive to learn about these types of things when I was younger might've put me on a different career path

[@colinwhitfield8627]

Right? It's like crumbling infrastructure porn with commentary. Morbid, but deeply edifying.

[@Nobbie248]

Pictures and monotone is the pinnacle

[@effluviah7544]

I'm from Miami. Trust me, so much of our architecture/construction design and actual build process is completely fucked. I'm just mad that this (and the condo collapse) is what it's taken to get people to realise that Florida in general has some pretty serious infrastructure problems, and we need to start giving a shit before more people die. It's normal to find stagnant water in parking lots and severe concrete spalling, for example-- A contributing factor/indicator of blatant damage in the condo case. Just because we passed slightly less shitty construction laws after Hurricane Andrew in '92, doesn't mean those shitty construction laws are any good. We need inspections far more frequently than once every 40 years in a state that is prone to severe salt water infiltration and self-evident erosion. The fucking foundations in a lot of coastal buildings are literally rotten and no longer have any fucking limestone to cling onto, which by the way, good luck digging down in a state that stands at precisely zero elevation and used to be entirely swampland. The problems are many, and obvious. And all of that, combined with the usual Miami/Florida half-assery, means people are finally dying from this shit, and it doesn't have to be like that. People don't have to die from this shit, it's avoidable and preventable and a lot of problems can be safely mitigated until they can be resolved completely if they were ever fucking inspected or monitored during construction properly. We need a more watchful eye being lent to "contemporary" or creative build projects like this bullshit FIU bridge, and we need to actually give a fuck about all of our busted buildings that somehow withstand hurricanes every year, accumulating more and more damage, until people die. It's literally life or death. And now we're seeing the deaths, and it's just so fucking sad that it's gotten to this point. I hope people elsewhere continue to keep an eye on Florida/Miami buildings, because the next time this happens (and there will be a next time, at this rate of fuckery), I at least want the rest of the world to learn what NOT to do by watching these preventable accidents happen. I'm sorry about the angry tone here; This was another wonderful video and I'm glad to see this covered in such a thorough and respectful way. I just get so pissed off about it, because not only do I know people at FIU that very easily could have been caught up in this bridge collapse, but I am sad at the entirely preventable loss of life. In this incident, and any other preventable incident.

[@frevazz3364]

I don't blame you for being upset. People needlessly died. And what has been done? Have people suffered consequences due to faulty design & construction, and ego? Have changes been made to keep this from happening again? People complain about regulations but this is exactly why they exist, and even the ones that exist here in Florida are minimalistic.

[@effluviah7544]

@@frevazz3364 ​ Thank you for your reply; I fully agree with you, regulations exist for very good reasons, the most obvious of which is to prevent the loss of life or grievous harm. But when the regulations are lax, not carried out, and otherwise circumvented or ignored-- And there are no consequences for those responsible-- The inevitable outcome is injury and death. Florida has some unique and very serious problems relating to architecture, construction, and design that need to be taken into account, and so far, they really haven't been. With the increasing erosion and saltwater incursion issues getting worse every year, and more severe or even the most basic problems going perpetually ignored or disregarded even when inspections and construction monitoring does take place... Not to mention historical and current corruption both locally and at the government level in many aspects/departments which further complicates the problem. The FIU bridge and the recent condo collapse highlight two sides of the same problem. Florida's infrastructure in general, architecture and building projects across the board, have been subject to poor standards and practice for decades on end. Not to mention all the stuff built under the table with illicit funds and intentionally faulty design and construction processes to avoid cost back in the 80s and prior to that, which are absolutely going to start toppling sooner or later. Life is so fucking cheap in Florida, no punishment or consequences for killing people through half-assery... I absolutely dread the next time an incident like this will occur. And there will be a next time, considering the current state of things and the lack of actions taken to prevent or rectify known dangerous structural issues. Thanks for letting me rant, Freddie. I wish the State of Florida paid as much attention to this as we, and so many others, are.

[@fredgervinm.p.3315]

Can't "kick the can" down the road if there is no road. It has been a long time coming...

[@stevencooke6451]

There are no accidents, just mistakes or terrible decisions that get punished.

[@snsm6730]

@@stevencooke6451 "There are no accidents, just mistakes or terrible decisions that get punished." Accidents yes....punished...NOT even close. If several of these clearly criminally negligent engineers had ended up in criminal court and then a stretch in the local jail for manslaughter I am sure it would be amazing how competence would improve. Call me cynical but...this REALLY needs to happen....

[@jgboyer]

15:00 - "What path was the load to take? The level of incompetence was infuriating." Indeed!

[@M2ofEMMM]

There's something so incredibly sad about the fact that the construction of this bridge was motivated by a student's death, and then that led to even more deaths. I would be so devastated and angry if I were Alexis's loved ones. I remember reading that one of the workers on the bridge that day was probably saved because he heard the bridge cracking again and secured his safety harness just moments before the collapse. One of the few people in the situation who hadn't been lulled into complacency.

[@seabreeze7378]

You said that well...”lulled into complacency” Sadly that’s all too the case with so many these days

[@WhiteWolf-lm7gj]

​@@seabreeze7378Eh, I think it's just more noticeable nowadays rather than more common

[@doverbeachcomber]

It’s quite difficult to tell such a story as this so clearly, balancing both human and technical factors, leaving both laymen and professionals edified. We’re all indebted to you. Fine work.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Yes indeed, a very well done video that explains the cause of the disaster quite clearly.

[@brotherjoll1802]

go outside

[@velorexvelorex4605]

Im a FIU student at the Engineering center, Students and staff speculated that the hoisting of the bridge was the cause of the collapse. Also before the collapse; egn students questioned the fake-suspension design. Personally hated the bridge design, (was unaware of the severe incompetence) Fl/miami has a rainy season during the fall, the bridge's roof would not protect pedestrians from Storms. Pedestrians on the bridge would risk thunder/wind and get soaked. I wished the bridge was enclosed and constructed out of steel/concrete like the one next to the University of Miami. My brother was at the campus at the time, inside the greenhouse next to the red parking garage. He described collapse's noise as if someone dropped a large garbage container. Just to say this is a great video, thanks for making it.

[@whazzat8015]

I thought the lack of weather protection was a feature of the "Self-Washing Concrete"

[@DucatiQueen]

And then he has the audacity to counter sue the feds to get his suspension overturned…. This scum ball belongs in PRISON

[@JoshCraver9000]

He belongs 6 feet underground!

[@elcidleon6500]

The solution must be final and be pushished in capital terms.

[@user-jt1jv8vl9r]

If I imagine one of my family dead because of these c*nts I would want those involved prosecuted for manslaughter.

[@johnfranklin8319]

I can’t over the fact that they were aware of major cracking but still set the bridge in place and allowed public traffic to drive under it. I’m just blown away by that!!

[@whazzat8015]

Prolly the same guys that did the Miami Condo, er, former condo.

[@chargermopar]

I always drove that road to Aldi but the Sunday after the bridge was installed I drove under it and had a bad feeling. Latr on I parked at FIU and walked over to look at it. I came to the conclusion the bridge looked like it was sagging and was afraid a chunk of concrete would fall off. Minutes before the bridge collapsed I was coming back from Aldi and was going toward the bridge and quickly turned right on 117 avenue. When I got home I saw on TV the bridge had collapsed.

[@Therealestrunnerluda]

You are also responsible then I’ll call fbi

[@Lv-nq9qz]

It's good to listen to your gut sometimes

[@Rychotech]

I remember being at work and seeing the news report for this coming through my notifications. Something about it was just particularly fascinating and I kept following it for the next few days as information came out. Definitely good to see a nice comprehensive review of the investigation.

[@BrickImmortar]

Once I started digging into, wow the incompetence to make it happen just kept stacking up haha

[@jennythedancer]

@@BrickImmortar And you mince no words about it. Seemed so obvious.

[@larrybe2900]

@@BrickImmortar The failure of the structure is one thing but allowing traffic to travel while adjustments were being done was the most egregious of all. The structure was not ready for traffic though I know hindsight is 20/20.

[@strungoutkid]

I remember watching something that said when they pulled out the cars underneath it they were only 12 inches in height. Scary to think people were in them.

[@krashd]

Do you want to make human juice? Because that's how you make human juice.

[@abandonedaccount123]

rob, i really do not enjoy your comment. take a like

[@Lady.Friday]

@@krashd Oh.... oh God......that's a mental image I wish I could bleach out.....just take my like already

[@blackhawks81H]

@@Lady.Friday I've been a Firefighter/Paramedic for 20 years.. Trust me, the real image of such a thing is unfortunately far worse than any mental image your brain can come up with. I pray you never have to see such a thing first hand.

[@failtolawl]

@@blackhawks81H hmm bloodcake with a side of limb

[@macaron3141592653]

When this happened, I, as a structural engineer, did some quick math and found that I could design a perfectly adequate, fairly simple steel pedestrian bridge that weighed a fifth of what this did. Pre and post stressing of concrete is already such a fragile process, but this whole project was so reckless and bloated, it made everything worse.

[@CapitanoAraym]

THIS! Searching "an impossible design made of concrete" just for the sake of some weird desire of unicity, when the actual point of a bridge should be the "safer and simple way" to cross something. Failure alike this make my blood boiling (... I'm Italian, from the city of Genova... in the late years known for the "Morandi" highway bridge collapse, another story of "experimental" concrete bridge that had shown by the time its own limits, but nobody addressed or properly mantained a structure that was already loading more load than it should have carried).

[@Inkling777]

"'Weighing a fifth what this did" and probably a lot cheaper. The drive to have a unique bridge that was an artistic statement was another factor in this disaster.

[@NWIndianaElevators]

Great video! Let's also not forget that they (the FIGG Bridge Builders) also worked on the Cline Avenue Bridge in Indiana. The Cline Avenue Bridge LLC (owner of the bridge) cut ties with them last year due to management issues EVEN THOUGH they were almost done with the bridge construction.

[@raymondleggs5508]

Friggin' Ignororant Greedy Grifters AKA FIGG!

[@janicesullivan8942]

I hated crossing the Cline Avenue bridge.

[@larselder874]

Did Superior build that new 912 bridge?

[@pentiuman]

I bet the students at the college there could have engineered and built a lightweight steel pedestrian bridge as part of their studies, and the only cost would have been materials, licensing and other required costs - which could have been covered by company paid digital ads on the sides of the bridge.

[@asimian8500]

I'm not so sure after the video stated that the school's engineering program highlighted their ABC design and project management program. If you want to see ABC that works, look up Bailey Bridges used during WW2. These were temporary bridges, but so well engineered that some Bailey Bridges are still operational to this day.

[@larselder874]

Start with one 30 inch ‘I’ beam

[@jesuszamora6949]

@@asimian8500 The problem with THIS bridge is that they A) accelerated the construction even FASTER than normal, and B) used a BS design to start with.

[@danpatterson8009]

Thanks for this- news reports I had seen had implied that the construction crew was at fault for tensioning the rods improperly. This thing had failure designed in. At least now people will pay more attention to the implications of moving prefabricated structures around. One principle in quality management is that adding layers of inspection will not fundamentally improve product quality, because everyone assumes that if there is a defect, someone else will find it, or would have found it before it got to them- and if a defect does get through, all share the blame for missing it, and no one can be singled out. Too many boxes on the org chart, no direct path of accountability. And what's the bloody point of designing a bridge to look like a different type of bridge?

[@johnkidd1226]

Thats always the go to when the blame game starts. Blame the workers. My guess would be the workers already brought the problems to the engineers and were ignored.

[@MM-fe9mz]

Was insane they were adjusting the tension with live traffic below and absolutely no temporary supports In place.

[@kilojeromesmith4488]

I worked as a supervisor on the Houston ship channel bridge that you showed in your video. That bridge was a post tension poured in place bridge. It never had any problems. I believe the bridge you are referring to is the new replacement bridge that has currently been delay due to poor quality of the materials being used. The bridge I worked on was a true work of art. The inspectors were as tough as they come and would never let the smallest mistake go un noticed. It was a honor to have been part of its construction. Great videos!

[@salernolake]

Worked as an engineer for 35 years. One of the lessons to take to heart is that if a project is trending in a way that leads towards something bad happening, then all that is required to have the bad thing happen, is for everyone involved to go into denial.

[@tieck4408]

There's something really sick about building a pedestrian bridge over a stroad and thinking it's an opportunity for special prestige aesthetics.

[@Sashazur]

If it’s done by competent engineers and contractors then it’s actually great - a safe and well built bridge that looks cool too, why not?

[@turricanedtc3764]

@Russ Olson - The video explicitly states that the "aesthetic" additions significantly increased the static loading. It may not have been the primary cause of the failure, but it certainly didn't help.

[@hlowrylong]

I’d prefer a bridge that didn’t collapse …. I could just slap some white paint on it every year or so. That would be just as pretty. 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@givmi_more_w9251]

@@Sashazur I generally agree with you - ugly concrete abominations suck the life out of everyone - but pretty collapsing bridges are considerably worse than ugly, stable ones. i'm no civil engineer, but if you want the suspension bridge optic, then ... just built a suspension bridge, maybe? That way the pillar and the 'cables' aren't actually superflous material, just adding cost and structural load. Point is, aesthetics should be icing on the cake, and put on after the cake has been correctly baked.

[@stevec404]

At first viewing, before the narration, I applauded the apparent strength of the suspension bridge design. When I heard that it was 100% ornamental, I shook my head in disbelief. The design flaws, the construction flaws, and the oversight flaws were no accident. The settlement divided among the survivors and families did not absolve anyone. Responsible parties - yes, they WERE responsible... should have been stripped of all professional licenses, etc. This tragedy was no accident. It was a purposeful and arrogant push to project completion despite all obvious warning signs. Negligent manslaughter for all involved would have been proper. So very sad. So very avoidable.

[@shout_2000]

Keep educating us for the ones who lose their lives, loved ones, and homes. I work surrounded by Hazardous materials and vehicles, supplememted by EPA and DOT and federal regulations, so everytime i see one of your video, i enjoy the watch to learn more about what i donot understand. Thankyou and keep up the awesome content.

[@melissabelle123]

I just started working as a structural engineer about a month ago. I work on buildings, not bridges, but frankly I’m surprised there’s not more structural collapses in the US. Most projects go to the lowest bidder - both engineer and then contractor. That’s not to say the lowest bidder isn’t trying, but their fee WILL limit things. And the amount of coordination involved is insane. I understand the engineer who said his model worked for the project as a whole. Clearly, this complex case needed more time to analyze the bridge during construction, but the way the system is set up, construction is separate from engineering is separate from architecture etc. and the big picture is lost. Accelerate this with lack of time, and this is what you get. Rest in peace to those who lost their lives, and I hope we as engineers will continue to do better. Great video and explanations

[@paulskopic5844]

Murder charges should have been filed against several people associated with this disaster because SO many rules and safe practices were BLATANTLY violated. For starters ABSOLUTELY no one should have been allowed under the load while it was being moved. This alone is a crime worthy of murder charges. There were other VERY serious Engineering and safety violations committed which I will not elaborate on because the first item is enough.

[@pollypocket2282]

I work in the AEC industry in South Florida, the firm I work for sponsors their CM school. I remember when this happened and it sent shockwaves through the entire community that we still feel today. Thank you for your in depth coverage of this any other tragedies, I’ve begun sharing them with younger employees so they don’t forget the past. It still shocks me that MCM made it through.

[@miketype1each]

I'm not an engineer, yet it seemed to me that the bridge was just too freaking huge. Why not a lighter-weight steel span? That concrete contraption was brutalist, anyway. Haven't we had enough of that? RIP to those who died at the hands of such idiocy.

[@AldanFerrox]

Yeah, and a steel construction probably could be placed in a similar timeframe or even faster. You just need to build the concrete piers. And this is not a heavy duty bridge, after all. It was for pedestrians, and not for vehicles.

[@vaporisedair4919]

@@AldanFerrox also easier to maintain, once the rebars starts corroding you need to replace it.

[@AldanFerrox]

@@vaporisedair4919 Yeah, just your regular inspections for rust and deformation every few years and rust removal and new paint after a decade.

[@Jess-xn9xq]

Ultimately, it can be chalked up to greed and corruption, sadly

[@pilgrimsnest592]

Shows you that fools work in high places, covering behing "degrees".

[@Dr_Kenneth_Noisewater]

Normally you’d be flattered when someone quotes you - but not when it’s the NTSB.

[@cromagnon305]

I happened to drive by there 5 days ago (September 2021). The pylon piers are still there, unfinished and unpainted except for some graffiti. Very eerie to see.

[@terriseaton3049]

Incredible! I didn’t expect to understand this. Learned so much. It is structured for the layman. Sad for the lives taken & injured. Responsibility out of sheer incompetence & pass the buck logic.

[@blackhawks81H]

I'm still impressed that the KZbinr AvE, called the cause of this days after it fell. He noticed a hydraulic jack cylinder in one of the pictures of the disaster sticking way out at the end of a PT rod that appeared to have rebounded and shot a good 15 feet out of the concrete. He them had an almost identical hydraulic jack cylinder and some PT rods set up in his garage within a day or two and hooked the whole thing up to pressure sensors connected to an oscilloscope to show the yield curve in real time while reefing on the rods. Literally within a couple days. The NTSB report basically confirmed his findings well over a year later. This clearly demonstrates that the knowledge IS OUT THERE. If he could recognize the problem from a photograph, sitting thousands of miles away in northwest Canada.. Then engineers on site should damn well have been able to recognize the problem before it got to the point of collapse. There should have been a number of people on site who could take one look at those cracks and know exactly why they were appearing. Of course, someone like him would never get anywhere near a contract like this one involving govt money these days.. For.. Reasons.

[@Gallahaut]

I was listening to this video on my way home from work and just drove over the Houston ship channel right as you were mentioning Figg being removed from the project. So eerie 😅

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

What concerns me is that FIGG group was involved in the design and rapid construction of the bridge that replaced the I-35 bridge that collapsed in Minnesota.

[@chrisk8187]

.........self-absorbed incompetence........... When I was in the architectural school at the University of Oklahoma in 68' our classroom/building structure was in the open space underneath the stadium poured concrete bleacher and floor supports. A very dynamic totally exposed structural space that we could exploit to to our advantage. We loved it! .

[@Unknown.NotRegistered]

Art without function is a waste in architecture. I honestly cannot fathom why they are wasting additional stress on a decorative tower. Much like the rushed construction, its a waste of effort to rush the project. This whole project was just a disaster waiting to happen.

[@xraymind]

The thing is that they haven't even put up the tower on the bridge. If they did, it would have put more stress on the bridge.

[@Unknown.NotRegistered]

@@xraymind True. It was doomed to fail eventually by something.

[@alanponce2657]

I attended the university. Walking from one side of the street to the next was hella dangerous, miami drivers run the red light and have caused many accidents there. But the moment I drove under that bridge the night after it was install. I knew instantly that I will be actively trying to avoid the bridge...

[@uzaiyaro]

Here in Australia, we’re replacing loads of bridges. On my one hour commute to my parents, I think there are six bridges that are less than 15 years old, most of them less than 5 years old, and one of them being replaced right now. They seem to be a very basic, tested design. You build the two ends, pillar in the middle of the road, and prefabricated span elements are lifted in place and bolted down, and the road deck built on top of that. It only seems to take a handful of nights of highway closure to lift these elements into place. Even though the design is very boring, I still find it interesting because the span elements are built very off-site. The trailers they are trucked on are interesting too. If I remember correctly, there is no trailer structure in the middle, the span element is basically floating in mid air, being supported by a separate trailer at the rear. Vaguely interesting stuff to me. P.S. I also believe that no falsework is required, too. Perhaps during construction, but not during assembly. The elements are light enough to be lifted by crane, and are simply dropped into place with the highway closed. P.S. Also! We actually have another bridge that’s recently gone up, built in almost the same way. It’s also a pedestrian bridge. It was built off-site, and i believe carted to the job on a barge, where a crane lifted the whole thing up in one or two pieces, and lowered them down onto the piers with the highway closed over about three days. We’ve also had major railway bridge replacements, requiring only 10 days to completely replace. How they did this was they built the new piers below the old bridges, fabricated all of the elements, and had them lined up, ready to go straight away. Over the Christmas break, they closed the railway line for the aforementioned ten days, during which time the old bridges were demolished, and the new ones assembled. Here’s a time lapse of how they did this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJywlZWZdtCUl9E

[@Kazmahu]

The "floating" is what makes them safe to transport - it's putting supports in more-or-less the same areas as where it'll be resting on the pylons. The cranes lift from there was well. The end result is that the module is taking a similar load profile from transport to final placement, so the same compression strengths can be used. Obviously there are slight differences at every step, but since it's a simple, functional bit of road deck, it's relatively straightforward to design in all the necessary tolerances. And since the procedure is similar for every bridge the crews who place them know pretty much what they're doing. It's a classic case of form following function. Also, since the road base and blacktop are only added in situ, the modules aren't quite so heavy when they're being transported. This means less stress on the transport points. By the time the extra dead load is added, it's already in position bolted to and pressing against everything it's relying on for structural support. (Disclaimer: not an engineer, just a fellow Australian who's seen a few low-budget documentaries.)

[@uzaiyaro]

@@Kazmahu Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if a single factory produced the modules for all of these bridges. They look identical, perhaps only different in the length required and some other differences required for the project. Also, as an interesting anecdote of how much money is poured into our infrastructure; one of the bridges I drive over is a curving overpass/flyover. A few years ago, this bridge was found to have been damaged in some way, I don’t know specifically, but you could see that the road deck at one end had split apart because the bridge moved. They immediately inspected it, and put up weight limit signs. The two lanes had different weight limits: 4.5 tons in the right lane, and 59.5 tons in the left hand lane. However, the absolute weight limit was, iirc, 102 tons. Any truck in that category, was required to use the centreline (so, the middle of the bridge), and was required to be piloted at 10km/h over the bridge. It took a while to design the fix, but the bridge was repaired, and stayed open to traffic for almost all of it. While they were there, they also upgraded drainage and whatnot for the highway span below the bridge. The most apparent fix was for the piers. The piers, which may have been, say, 25% the width of the bridge, are now 90% the width of the bridge. The piers make the damn thing look like it could survive a nuke. But while I never had concerns about driving across it, now you get the feeling that, yup, this bridge is absolutely going nowhere. P.S. I can’t find a photo of how it looks now, maybe that’s something I’ll have to take myself sometime, if interested. But in any case, the repair cost $25 million, which is a bit of coin. They must be expecting the bridge to hang around for a while yet.

[@m2heavyindustries378]

@@uzaiyaro Simple, practical, doesn't win any design awards or international acclaim. Oh and won't kill anyone unlike the featured bridge in Florida. Wonderful.

[@uzaiyaro]

@@m2heavyindustries378 eh, there’s no real reason why a bridge can’t be both functional and beautiful. I live in Brisbane, and we have quite a few bridges which I really like, including a very rare one which had apartments inside the pillars. The Story Bridge is a classic one, and I like taking it when I’m in that part of town. There’s also the gateway bridges, one of which built in 1986, the other one in about 2009. Not sure about the former, but the latter bridge has a design life of 300 years, so they really gilded the lily on that one. The first bridge mentioned is called the Walter Taylor bridge, and is (or was) the only habitable bridge in this half of the world. I say ‘was’ because it’s not being rented/sold anymore, and I believe they do tours. All of this is information that’s probably pretty useless to you, but yeah, I don’t think there’s any reason you can’t ratchet up the style points-as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of budget and/or structural integrity and durability, of course.

[@ingvarhallstrom2306]

Best video I've seen on this bridge collapse.

[@travellintravis6373]

Love my alma mater, but disappointed and saddened to see what negligence took place with that bridge. Very informative video.

[@channelsixtysix066]

I would have preferred sound engineering principles, rather than "artistic influences". That might be boring for some, but it works. 01:17

[@adamk203]

For sure. I despise these expensive avant-garde designs. They push the limits of everything (including safety) without regard to the financial or human cost. I'll take boring and safe any day.

[@kensmith5694]

I think a well designed truss structure looks very good. There is a nice nearly exactly repeating pattern of triangles. The angles and sizes change as you move away from the center line in either direction.

[@channelsixtysix066]

@@kensmith5694 - I agree, I think the same way. Attractive structure does not need to come at the expense of being well-engineered. My point was the introduction of a false tower and pipe stays all for artistic appearance, adding extra unnecessary weight to an already marginal and fragile structure. If it didn't fail when it did, it most certainly would have failed later on as they were added. It seems this project was all about the style and not the substance.

[@kensmith5694]

@@channelsixtysix066 The design was not "marginal" it was bad. "marginal" would be a structure that did not quite come crashing down but was just short of that. The cutting of the budget on the engineering side of things as is often the case ended up costing a great deal more. I quite agree about the "style vs substance" point. I, however, think that the style looked bad too. The money wasted on an ugly thing would be a problem even if it had not failed.

[@channelsixtysix066]

@@kensmith5694 - I get your point about the terminology. My incorrect idea of marginal, was that it didn't come crashing down immediately, but load anything else on it and it would have. That even includes pedestrian traffic. I've never been involved in structural engineering, so my terminology is a bit off. I just have a general interest in anything to do with engineering. My background is in electronics.

[@borisbadaxe9678]

"Bridges as art" Whatever happened to building a bridge to be a f...ing bridge?

[@Dr.LongMonkey]

that doesn't really make sense. "Bridges as art" has been a thing a lot longer than you think

[@elcidleon6500]

@@Dr.LongMonkey - It was a horrible piece of art to begin with. Neither form or function.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Bridges as art are all Figged up.

[@MFenix206]

it didn't fail because it was a bridge as art, it failed because it was a bridge as *modern art* what kind of LSD shit are people shooting up these days that they thought having an asymmetrical, offset, single-support bridge looks good? had there been two sets of concrete supports on the outside of the walkway rather than the single set on the inside it would have been far more sound and looked far better imo.

[@whazzat8015]

Can you say Callatrava?

[@andymanaus1077]

There's a saying in firefighting circles: "Never trust a truss." Simple trusses are, by design, non-redundant structures and a single point of failure will bring the entire structure down. Trusses can be made redundant by duplication but with the current trend of minimalist architecture, this is an unpopular solution.

[@wolftickets1969]

2013 I-5 Skagit River bridge collapse in Washington State, triggered when a too-tall oversize load truck struck several overhead support beams. Miraculously, nobody was killed.

[@nemesis2445]

This was not a failure on the part of any party that built the bridge though. It was the result of a trucking company not verifying it's route completely for an over-height load. the state rebuilt the broken span then modified the rest of the trusses so that they have equal clearances all they way acrross

[@allandavis8201]

You don’t need a degree in civil engineering to know that cracks appearing during manufacturing, movement to place of installation,and before re-tensioning indicates very clearly (like a baseball ⚾️ between the eyes 👀) that it is broken, not fit for purpose, fubar, an snafu. Those responsible for the engineering and construction should be behind bars. The university were extremely quick to cover their collective asses don’t ya think????, as they (anyone involved in the sequence of events, even when nobody knows what happened, sorry, especially when nobody knows what what happened). Excellent narration, clear and precise, and easy for anyone to understand, thanks for sharing. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 As a retired aircraft engineering technician with the RAF it was incumbent on every single person within the particular section, Sqn, Flt etc to draw attention to ANYTHING that could or would cause a safety issue and systems were in place to allow anyone from the junior ranks to the highest ranking officer to be able to do this, even anonymously if need-be, so why on earth didn’t someone, anyone on the team building the bridge not shout STOP, I’m sorry but I don’t buy into the collective “groupthink”, I think it could be much simpler, money, the bottom line ending up with the construction workers being on a big bonus IF it was completed in time. Maybe my opinion is cynical, but I stand by it 100%.

[@SETX_Sirens_and_Rail_02]

This is negligent manslaughter right here. In Florida that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, 15 or more years of probation, and fines up to $10,000. There should be multiple people charged with that over this matter

[@MyDarkmarc]

WOW!!!Human life is cheap just $103 million for six murdered people and injured people the companies got off cheap.

[@LilAnnThrax]

I've been waiting for this one! Thank you for covering this. I've been needing a good deep dive since this happened.

[@reignman30]

Accelerated construction because they didn't want to disrupt traffic, but then traffic was completely disrupted for 10 days to get the debris cleaned up.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Yeah, and all the money spent on the bridge was lost as they have no bridge.

[@furygeist]

You always explain things in a way that's easy to understand, get a glimpse into what was, what is now, what goes wrong and why. That coupled with your super soothing voice and it's got the same feel as watching Forensic Files and How It's Made. Comforting despite the subject matter, kinda nostalgic. You clearly put a lot of work into every video, and it is greatly appreciated.

[@UncleFeedle]

Reminds me of the saying in engineering - 'Faster Better Cheaper - pick two'. In this case, they went for faster and cheaper.

[@michaelbarrack6772]

Yet another amazing video. Please keep making these, some of the best KZbin I’ve seen in a while.

[@randholtham8493]

Well done! That diagonal with the large cracks was a tension member when it was transported since that end cantilevered off the SPMT and then was put in compression once on the pier. Then they tightened the post tension rods to close crack gaps which just put additional compression in that member failing it in compression. Definitely incompetence. I think the same will go for the more recent condo collapse

[@asimian8500]

The engineers on the ground knew what was happening, but group think led them to this ridiculous "solution". ABC project management means that there is no time to fix serious issues as speed is everything. That means only stop-gap or half-ass solutions will be used to meet project management goals. Anyone with a basic knowledge of engineering physics would realize that tensioning a cracked and failing structural member to reduce the gap could lead to catastrophic failure.

[@randholtham8493]

It’s a truss ….diagonals carry tension or compression. Sitting on the pedestal that member could only carry compression being diagonally down. There was bursting at the bottom of this diagonal. It can be seen from the bus footage at collapse.

[@ChilapaOfTheAmazons]

Why on Earth *a pedestrian bridge weights 860 metric tons???* Everyone involved was completely out of their minds from the start.

[@2.7petabytes]

Such excellent videos you produce! Well researched, thought out and narrated.

[@michaelaurban4120]

Your videos are wonderful, and I sure do enjoy watching them! Your voice is smooth and well spoken, you have done your research, and I enjoy just kicking back and taking a relaxing listen! Thank you for all that you do!

[@BrickImmortar]

Thanks for saying that Michaela!

[@JasonFlorida]

Excellent video, I really appreciate the hard work you put into these. Thank you!

[@garethblake3941]

I find this kind of very concise video commentary very interesting as you usually rarely hear anymore about the outcome of a very sad incident. Keep up the good work and stay safe.

[@bat__bat]

"Good intentions do not suffice for competence and diligence." What a hell of a quote from that letter. That can certainly be applied at large in so many different fields, not just engineering. Some of the revelations from these mass catastrophes make you wonder not how the structure or machine failed, but how on Earth did it not fail sooner?😑

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

This was really well made, thank you for your research in these videos

[@Truckngirl]

What a great job you did! I hope your channel grows and grows. And I did get my trial of Magellan and watched the Kuala Lumpur tunnel documentary.

[@BrickImmortar]

Hey thanks for the kind words Truckngirl... your support is so appreciated!

[@charlesjmouse]

There is that old adage "Those who can't do teach." A generalisation that may not fit everyone, but a useful one non-the-less. A bridge near an engineering school collapses. On a much less tragic scale I'm reminded of the school of architecture building at Durham University in the UK: Even if the appalling monstrosity wasn't entirely inappropriately located within the walls of an otherwise beautiful old English city it would still be an absolute eyesore who's poor choices in design have also lead to it deteriorating badly. Do teach if you're good at it, but don't confuse that with ability. "For good reason I can't get a job in the real world. But my position at a prodigious campus has inflated my overestimation of my meagre abilities to the point where in my hubris I have created a design beyond my ability to properly comprehend and so at great risk of not being fit for purpose."

[@whazzat8015]

At least it hasn't collapsed. yet

[@svenjorgensen5]

I know nothing about civil engineering, but why was that thing so massive? I pedestrian bridges near colleges near me cross just as many lanes as this one and they are tiny in comparison.

[@ashleam1489]

I like how you outlined the definition of "group think." I live in Minnesota- where "Minnesota Nice" means passive aggressive, manipulative, and "group think"...all while being extremely polite, smiling, and acting like nothing is wrong. And if one ever takes the unpopular view of safety over profit- it's a career death sentence. Everyone likes the "yes" man. No one likes a "trouble maker" or anyone who simply points out facts. But that is the exact mentality that costs lives. I never knew the exact word for this until now... "Group think" Thanks for the info.

[@amyhaberlein6880]

Here we go..

[@justinlombardo9388]

I’ve been waiting for the outcome, great video thank you.

[@kira0080]

Thank god this was over the break. I was on vacation and my mom called and told me the bridge collapsed at the school. I didnt even know the bridge was being put up over the break let alone how quickly they got it there. So I was confused and told her there is no bridge over 8th street. I drive on that road by that intersection 4 days a week. So unless they built an entire bridge in a few days it must be the bridge in the campus. googled it and yep, it was literally put up over night. The close friend of one of the guys in my programming group died. Everything about this was just plain stupid.

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

Only 17K? Wtf? This is top tier content. Thank you for your hard work. Can’t wait to see this channel grow.

[@destrygriffith3972]

By minute 18 I'm thinking "So infuriatingly insane this happened. You have this literal movie scene of unrealistic slow cracking. All this obvious time to get out of the way. But corporate culture is too tyrannical: you can't admit it, even to yourself. Because if you did, you'd run screaming to your coworkers to get the hell off the thing, then to your boss, then to the nearest news outlet if they wouldn't listen. In a sane society, you'd scream for everyone to get off and out of the way, and start blocking traffic yourself, and your coworkers would immediately help. In an even remotely sane society you would call the cops immediately to help with traffic. And you would not be later fired for this. You'd be honored.

[@mgkelly3389]

I really appreciate your graphics. They make very complex matters easy to understand. Thank you.

[@ScamtheScammers]

Great Job on the Video Sam this channel is taking off!

[@mijiyoon5575]

TY *Sam w/ Brick Immortar* for your excellent reporting & the ending victim tribute. Yes, it is a long Labor Day week end but, the city water workers were out here earlier working on the water line so they had to work today & our water was off for a few hours. Such is life...it's back on now so no biggie! 😊😊😊👍👍👍👍👍🎬

[@BrickImmortar]

Thanks for that Miji and glad you're well!

[@DounutCereal]

I just cannot wrap my head around why anyone would want to build a truss out of concrete at all when steel is a thing that exists

[@ZenkaiAnkoku2]

This is an excellent, unbiased account of the collapse. Putting the blame where it belongs, on every party that allowed the project to continue with those cracks. And the parties involved in the flawed design of the structure. The editing is also excellent! I love the dramatic intros and such. And I really appreciate at the end the pictures you used weren't just the obituaries, but ones really showing who these people were.

[@wombmenempowerment]

I was a student during this tragedy & I remember leaving a party from the main campus the night prior & hearing about the bridge the next morning. Thank you for making this video!

[@kentslocum]

Even after all of the initial incomptence, it is still shocking that they didn't close the road while construction crews were re-stressing the bridge above the roadway!

[@AfrinonM]

They had cracks growing around a major part of the ONLY load-bearing part of their bridge and they thought it was fine? This is weapons grade negligence and/or incompetence here.

[@e2rqey]

Had time to make a whole powerpoint justifying it too, and never thought "ya know maybe this might be an issue"

[@kirnpu]

Thank you for this fascinating breakdown. This was absolutely unconscionable.

[@jennythedancer]

These are so so so sooooo interesting!! You do an amazing job explaining exactly what went wrong! Are there additional videos on Pateron? ETA: Just supported you on Patreon! Would love more collapse videos (that sounds morbid but they are fascinating)!