Florida International University Bridge Collapses, Cars Underneath

miami.cbslocal.com ^ | 03/15/2018 | Staff

[Red Badger]

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Florida International University’s massive new pedestrian bridge collapsed Thursday afternoon in West Miami-Dade.

The bridge, located at 109th Ave and 8th Street, collapsed on a number of cars.

There are reports of numerous people injured in the collapse. At least one person was taken as a trauma alert to the hospital, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

The 950-ton bridge went up on Saturday. It was then lowered into its final position, just west of 109th Avenue that day.

The main span was built next to Southwest 8th Street.

[goldstategop]

I’m sure he’s taking his words back now.

How does a brand new bridge collapse suddenly? I mean this was a pedestrian bridge.

It should have been able to handle the stress load of lots of people walking across it.

Something doesn’t compute here.

[Reno89519]

Here is design info: https://news.fiu.edu/2016/02/fiu-selects-mcmfigg-to-design-and-build-pedestrian-bridge-across-8th-street/97102

[dfwgator]

And how many $ Billions did it cost to build?

After all the lawsuits, it's gonna cost a lot more.

[redcatcherb412]

innovative approach to bridge construction

Yep, pretty innovative.

[BunnySlippers]

Live feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISOEBbwirRg

[BlueLancer]

Well, isn't this the new norm that the Social Justice Warriors are trying to set?

Queer Engineering at Purdue

[G Larry]

Zactly!

Wrong design requirement priorities!

It ain’t about ‘ease of assembly’!

It’s about STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“I wonder if anyone was walking across it when it went down?
That must have been shocking.”

I’ll take the over/under on the under being worse than the over.

[jmaroneps37]

I remember on local TV they made a BIG deal about this bridge with some school official saying something like “This will help the local community”: REALLY?

[Reno89519]

No surprise, both companies have already shut down their websites.

[rktman]

Ho Lee Phoque!

[BlueLancer]

Beat me by four minutes ...

[Not A Snowbird]

For sure. I remember watching on TV and hearing the reporter say that what we were looking at was the Nimitz, and I said “no it isn’t, the Nimitz is a double decker...”

[Reno89519]

Bet they are busy shredding docs already and wiping clean their computers.

[Boogieman]

Don’t see any sign of that central pillar or the suspension lines in the “after” photo. Wouldn’t those be kind of important?

[tomkat]

Compare the photo in #4 and #44.

The photo in #4 seems like that span was put up without the suspension elements shown in #44.

I don’t see remnants of what would be called the cables in a regular suspension bridge.

[JoeRed]

Wow. This is almost inconceivable. There are so many levels of safety, engineering and inspections that have all failed to prevent this. Mill certifications on the steel, mix design on the concrete, samples of concrete sent to test labs, deputy inspections, structural observations by the engineers, public works inspections, engineering for live load, dead load, moments of inertia...this is really unbelievable.

[Osage Orange]

So..in that picture..it doesn't look finished..by any means. What's that structure at the right? It looks not even close to finished. There's construction debris everywhere....

Something is not adding up....

FWIW-

[Paradox]

As an engineer we were taught to use a 2.5 safety factor. This looks like they used 0.9

That was my first thought. Although I never worked as an engineer, I have two degrees. And as someone who is always building something, this just doesnt look right, not strong enough, even with those trusses, but what do I know..

How it was supposed to be...:

[SuperLuminal]

"Did the bid go to a minority contractor?"

My first thought also...