Somewhere in the country in the past few years, I drove under an overpass that was being demolished while traffic was still flowing UNDER the overpass bridge AND on the overpass bridge itself. There were probably 10 large excavators with the large hydraulic demolition points on the end of the boom chipping away at the bridge. It was astounding to see live traffic under and on top of a bridge undergoing demolition. I had visions of the whole thing suddenly letting go and killing many. I thought to myself, “MY GOD, what are these people doing?”
It was built at an accelerated pace - obviously - and one of the issues with that is the cement is still curing. After nearly 60 years? I wouldn't have believed it, had I not spoken to the PM running a project on it.
The project? They were taking a slice out of the dam. Top-to-bottom, all 400-odd feet. The cut was roughly an inch thick. Would make room for expansion due to the curing.
Struck me as a massively bad idea to cut a hole in an active dam, but here they were doing it. I sat there for an afternoon, watching a crew of workers on scaffolding and ropes, scampering across the face of the dam. Wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.
Haven't read where it ruptured, and like I said, it's been about 20 years, so I'd think that if something was going to happen, it would have by now....