Posted on 05/10/2018 1:51:55 PM PDT by Stalwart
A key concrete support truss in the doomed Florida International University pedestrian bridge developed worrisome cracks 10 days before the structure was lifted into place over the Tamiami Trail, photographs and an internal email unintentionally released by the school show.
The documents, released in response to public records requests from the Miami Herald, show that FIU's construction and engineering team discovered potentially problematic cracks in the bridge earlier than officials have previously acknowledged.
The cracks were found in late February at the base of a diagonal support member at the north end of the span. Independent engineers have identified that as the point where the structure shattered on March 15 while under construction, sending the 950-ton bridge crashing onto the roadway below and claiming six lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
I was construction manager 15 years ago for a project that had a couple of prestressed components. When the manufacturer called me to coordinate delivery, they laid a bomb on me that they had not followed the design rebar schedule because it was too weak and thus had unilaterally strengthened the rebar schedule. I relayed this to the engineering manager and found out that he had known about the issue for months and wasn’t concerned as long as it didn’t impact costs. A lot of red flags were waving to me on the engineering and procurement aspects of this project. I got myself untangled from this industrial project real quick.
I came onto the project as construction manager midway after the 1st guy was fired. I knew of several things to untangle but it turned out to be the project from hell. Missing delivered equipment stashed all over the facility, attempted equipment theft, poor construction specifications, incompetent suppliers, yada yada.
As is my habit, I kept a daily diary/log of all actions, directions received and given, meetings and conversations, workers on-site and weather, action list, etc. Monday mornings, this was emailed to my engineering and corporate management. A couple of years later, I was contacted by a lawyer for my old company who wanted me to give a deposition for a lawsuit related to the project. It turned out everybody was suing everybody else. I got them to agree to a hefty consulting rate and off I went to New York for what turned out to be a 8 hour deposition. It turned out that my project diary was the central evidentiary document for lawsuits. This though is prime reason to keep a diary - It’s not solely to keep track of details for your field use. Every project manager or construction manager needs to use this tool.
“”Any hard copies that have been made also should be destroyed,” Isicoff wrote.”
Spoliation? Are there any copies left at the school, or has there been a Hillary Clinton style ‘clean up’ of the evidentiary trail.
Wasnt this bridge the one designed by women and minorities? Guess they are hardest hit again
If they had assembled the bridge as the women had designed, it would have been fine. It was designed as a “cable stay” bridge, with the “cable stays” being “pipes” or tubular structures in this case. The accommodating structures for these to be connected to the roof of the span are very evident in the news images of the bridge installment.
The whole thing is a scandal, and it is being suppressed by the Floridian powers that be, IMO.
And, it's not just the cracks. It is obvious from the general appearance of the concrete itself that it is of poor quality and/or was not handled properly during the pour(s).
I would reject a sidewalk if it looked like the concrete in that photo; and as I stated in an earlier post, I would not build a dog house on a foundation that looked like that.
Somebody was in way too much of a hurry to get that bridge up, and they clearly cut corners in both the design and the construction.
It is usually up to the owner to protect himself by hiring his own engineer to provide construction-phase services, including having on-site inspectors and/or construction managers. Sadly, a lot of owners, including many public/government entities, try to reduce their overall budget by scrimping on this part of the job. They do, indeed, use “faith in the contractor” as their only method of construction oversight.
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