Someone asked me to comment on the
35W tragedy. Actually a number of people have asked me my opinion on how the bridge collapsed. From what I have seen, the design of the bridge
is fine structurally as long as both ends of the bridge are securely anchored into its abutments, but as you can see from the video, once the bridge is required to sustain itself without what would be called support in the x direction, it quickly collapses. And what caused the initial collapse. My best guess, a small connection or joint somewhere along the bridge weakened and failed. (The major contributor would probably be salt from icing the roads in the winter time infiltrating cracks in the concrete and eating away at the steel bar reinforcement which at the time of construction was not coated with exopy as all bars today are.) This failure resulted in stress and forces that that connection or joint was supporting, being taken up by the next closest connection or joint. The added stresses and forces on this next connection or joint caused that connection or joint to fail. This went on and on until a number of these connections or joints failed and led to the bridge to collapse. Much the same way the World Trade Center collapsed. It took me a while to mentally picture where exactly this bridge was. In my days shortly after college when I lived with Krum, Brown and Little Buddy, I can recall I would go running with Russ and Marty, not on this bridge but on a smaller bridge over the Mississippi River right next to this bridge. I have been told that the I-35w Bridge was the most heavily traveled bridge in the state of Minnesota. Being a former Minnesotan and having a number of friends in the area, obviously
I was concerned. No one I know was injured in the collapse. I do know many people who now have to deal with daily commutes that quickly jumped form 10 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Borky told me that he drove over the bridge about a half an hour before it collapsed. And he was suppose to meet a buddy but decided against it or he might have been driving back over it when it collapsed. To which I say, if Borky wasn't such a loser, he might be dead. I can assure you of this, my last bridge project in Prescott, WI, there was no work done structurally to the bridge at all. And as far as the bridge here in Appleton, WI where I am currently working. I have reviewed and personally inspected the bridges main girders, the only part of the structure that is remaining, several times and found it safe for vehicle travel. I hope.
is fine structurally as long as both ends of the bridge are securely anchored into its abutments, but as you can see from the video, once the bridge is required to sustain itself without what would be called support in the x direction, it quickly collapses. And what caused the initial collapse. My best guess, a small connection or joint somewhere along the bridge weakened and failed. (The major contributor would probably be salt from icing the roads in the winter time infiltrating cracks in the concrete and eating away at the steel bar reinforcement which at the time of construction was not coated with exopy as all bars today are.) This failure resulted in stress and forces that that connection or joint was supporting, being taken up by the next closest connection or joint. The added stresses and forces on this next connection or joint caused that connection or joint to fail. This went on and on until a number of these connections or joints failed and led to the bridge to collapse. Much the same way the World Trade Center collapsed. It took me a while to mentally picture where exactly this bridge was. In my days shortly after college when I lived with Krum, Brown and Little Buddy, I can recall I would go running with Russ and Marty, not on this bridge but on a smaller bridge over the Mississippi River right next to this bridge. I have been told that the I-35w Bridge was the most heavily traveled bridge in the state of Minnesota. Being a former Minnesotan and having a number of friends in the area, obviously 
I was concerned. No one I know was injured in the collapse. I do know many people who now have to deal with daily commutes that quickly jumped form 10 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Borky told me that he drove over the bridge about a half an hour before it collapsed. And he was suppose to meet a buddy but decided against it or he might have been driving back over it when it collapsed. To which I say, if Borky wasn't such a loser, he might be dead. I can assure you of this, my last bridge project in Prescott, WI, there was no work done structurally to the bridge at all. And as far as the bridge here in Appleton, WI where I am currently working. I have reviewed and personally inspected the bridges main girders, the only part of the structure that is remaining, several times and found it safe for vehicle travel. I hope.
3 comments:
That buddy of Borky's was me and I'm very glad he didn't decide to stop over before heading home.
I am glad he didn't stop by either. A world without Borky is a world I don't want to live in. Nonetheless, if Borky wasn't such a loser, he might be dead.
dave bruni drives across that bridge at 6:00pm for his son's 7:00pm soccer game every week. That night, for whatever reason, it was changed to a 6:00pm game so he crossed at 5:00pm instead.
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