5 crushed to death in collapse of overpass

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | October 2, 2006 | Associated Press

[rawhide]

An inspector from Transport Quebec, the province's transportation ministry, was sent to the site about 30 minutes before the tragedy but the overpass remained open. Transport Quebec spokeswoman Josee Seguin said the department heard about an hour before the accident that some pieces of concrete were falling off the overpass. She said Transport Quebec then issued an advisory to traffic reporters on the debris.

A major case of negligence if I ever heard of one!

[Disambiguator]

eight 70-ton beams fell on the car he was riding in.

That's 1,120,000 lbs.! Looks like some civil engineers need to switch careers.

[Moonman62]

I doubt it. Overpasses falling on their own are extremely rare. The article doesn't say that the engineer was onsite, but that he had been dispatched.

[MplsSteve]

I'm glad I'm not a first responder in situations like this.

The sight of mangled and smashed bodies would make me hurl - a lot.

[1rudeboy]

From the look of the damage on TV yesterday, it was some sort of a connection failure. But now that I think about it, what else would it be?

[Moonman62]

I don't know. I have seen cases of oveerpasses being hit by overheight trucks from below, but they still don't collapse.

[in hoc signo vinces]

Horrible way to die.

[BookaT]

"A coroner's report later concluded a construction company did not properly secure the concrete beams, and accused the province's construction industry of shoddy work and questionable corporate practices."

Is that what a coroner's report is for? I mean did the coroner study bridge building too? Not that he is wrong just looks like he/she may be overstepping his authoritie!

I read somewhere that there were complaints about debris falling from this and that the proper authority just said it passed inspection LAST YEAR!

[Brilliant]

The photos of the crushed cars were pretty shocking. They were as flat as pancakes, about 9 inches thick.

My guess is that the people inside looked a lot like hamburger.

[McGavin999]

Dear God, what an awful thing to happen, what a horrible way to die. Prayers for the souls of those who were killed and prayers that God will comfort their families and those who survived.

[Icthus]

I'd be willing to bet that the engineer on the project, the construction inspector and the contractor that did the work are all feeling rather nervous at this point.

[Born to Conserve]

Do the math, again.

[Disambiguator]

What did you come up with?

[monday]

"Is that what a coroner's report is for? I mean did the coroner study bridge building too? Not that he is wrong just looks like he/she may be overstepping his authoritie!"

lol... if thats the way they do things in Quebec it's no wonder their overpasses are falling apart.

[MediaMole]

Coroners can and do hire outside consultants with the necessary expertise to make these sorts of determinations.

[TalonDJ]

I doubt it.

He means the dispatchers that issued a warning instead of closing the road.

[Twinkie]

I doubt they knew what hit them and probably died instantly, as opposed to dying of some debilitating disease in bed for weeks suffering for weeks and months.

[Twinkie]

What a brilliant and unnecessarily graphic description, Brilliant.

[sittnick]

eight 70-ton beams fell on the car he was riding in.

That's 1,120,000 lbs.! Looks like some civil engineers need to switch careers.

That sounds right to me.

A ton is 2,000 pounds. Seventy tons, therefore, is (70 x 2,000 = 140,000) 140,000 pounds.

If each beam weighs 140,000 pounds, and eight fell, that would be (8 x 140,000 = 1,120,000) 1,120,000 pounds

The only thing that would change the math would be a misleading excerpt.