In the World's Richest Nation, Bridges Shouldn't Collapse

RCM ^ | 05/30/2013 | Rick Geddes

[KarlInOhio]

Steel overhead gantries on both bridge approaches slightly lower than its maximum clearance, along with a series of height warning signs leading to the bridge, would have stopped overly high trucks from accessing the bridge.

What warnings were on the bridge approaches? A few short bridges around here have chains hanging down at the maximum height which will make noise if you are too tall. One I used to travel under had a heavy beam at the maximum height so after going under it what was left of your truck would fit under the bridge.

[Oldexpat]

Why should they repair our bridges when they can always get stimulus money for other things when bridges fall down? The last Trillion dollar stimulus plan was supposed to solve these problems..

[AZLiberty]

More people should actually read the article. The author say that an overhead barrier should have been placed in front of the bridge to prevent an over-height truck from hitting the bridge. He thinks a private management firm would have figured this out.

Every Taco Bell drive-thru already has.

[KarlInOhio]

The last Trillion dollar stimulus plan was supposed to solve these problems..

I thought that it was supposed to be spent on tearing up perfectly good sidewalks so the mayor's cousin could pour them again.

[IYAS9YAS]

Steel overhead gantries on both bridge approaches slightly lower than its maximum clearance, along with a series of height warning signs leading to the bridge, would have stopped overly high trucks from accessing the bridge.

Nothing short of a truck trap (something to absolutely stop trucks that are too tall) will overcome stupid people driving trucks.

I supply this link as evidence.

http://www.youtube.com/yovo68

Warnings are everywhere, there's even a barrier low enough to hit your vehicle before hitting the bridge. They still do it. Several times a year.

[agere_contra]

As I understand it SOP is that the truck should have been escorted, driving down the center of the bridge proceeded by a vehicle with a height pole or ‘pilot pole’.

I don’t know if SOP was carried out or not.

Also: some motorists reported that there was work being carried out on the bridge at the time of the collapse. They reported seeing some base slabs denuded of concrete and showing bare rebar. I don’t know - maybe the truck was shifted from the center line to avoid that, or maybe it’s irrelevant.

[PATRIOT1876]

Sorry, no money in the budget for a bridge.

It’s been spent by murdering illegal alien gang members on welfare.

[agere_contra]

I should add - the pilot pole makes sense for bridges which are higher along the center line, and that therefore would be potentially accessible to escorted high-loads.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I no longer believe that normal political means are going to undo the tragedy of the American taxpayer being forced to support Third World aliens and home grown parasites. No sane politician will cut his own throat by effectively opposing welfare.

[PapaBear3625]

Private partners operate under detailed, competitively bid, fixed-term contracts that lay out clear performance standards, with associated penalties and rewards depending on measurable outcomes. PPP contracts can, for example, specify the safety standards to which bridge and tunnel operation is subject, creating the high-powered incentives necessary to ensure the safety of motorist-customers using the bridge.

And the contract should include the contracting party paying for insurance against bridge collapse, with the insurance company having the right to send inspectors to look over the bridge and raise premiums if the maintenance seem inadequate.

[Vaduz]

Gas taxes cause bridges to collapse,So much for the tax scams.

[SeaHawkFan]

The truck that hit the Skagit River bridge had a permit fromt eh state of Washington to use that route. The State neglected to tell the trucking company to use the left hand lane when crossing this bridge. Had it done so, the bridge would still be standing.

[angry elephant]

If the trucker had been able to move to the center of the bridge, where it was higher, this would not have happened. But he could not move because some brain-dead motorist insisted on holding his place.

Why any driver wants to hold the lane next to a big rig is beyond me.

[Graybeard58]

All these problems could be solved by just taxing the rich.

[Dead Corpse]

We shouldn’t be spending a Trillion dollars on a “farm” bill the FedGov has no Art 1 Sec 8 authority to be passing either...

Maybe if the FedGov stuck to what it was actually supposed to be doing, this wouldn’t be an issue.

[tinamina]

I live near this bridge. I used to drive over it daily. There was a pilot car with poles. There were permits. The height was supposed to be okay for the load. There seemed to be some cummunication problem with the pilot car and the truck driver. The driver says there was another vehicle which came up beside him and forced him over to the right, where the arch of the bridge was lower. If he had driven down the middle of the bridge all would have been fine but that did not happen. I believe there should have also been a “pilot?” truck behind preventing other vehicles from getting too close to the wide load truck while on the bridge. But there was no pilot car behind the loaded truck.
Daily Kos says that the bridge collapsed because of the Keystone Pipeline. They are saying that drilling equipment was on it’s way to the tar sands. But the drilling equipment was headed south from British Columbia to Vancouver WA where it was going to be barged to Alaska to drill there.