[meyer]

The bridge before...

Looks like a fairly sturdy design, but it also looks a little rusty around the closest support pylon in the picture. If something like that failed, it would come down.

[Cecily]

I’ll bet the people in the Charleston, SC area are thankful for their brand new Cooper River bridge just now. The old one might have been perfectly sound, but it seemed to be getting creakier by the year.

[cookcounty]

Is there a strong curent there? Looks a little like whitewater, that can’t be helpful.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

One assumes it was thoroughly engineered; however, in that picture, to my eye, the vertical steel supports directly over the concrete pylons appear...skinny....as they are no thicker than the members forming the trangles within the truss structure(s). My implication being: The members within and forming the triangles within truss structures are either overspec'ed or the verticals directly over the concrete pylons are underspec'ed because the triangles are pretty much just in compression whereas the verticals are not only in similar compression, but have to support the weight of the whole thing. Disclosure: I'm not a structural engineer.

[XR7]

Ever see the frame of a 40 year-old car from Minnesota?
Or Chicago? Or New York?
Or anywhere they use salt on the roads?

It should be no surprise this bridge rotted out.
The only surprise will be if any other old bridges actually don't cave in too.