[dragnet2]

No, how they designed the roadway had nothing to do with where the earth split or shifted in that area. In an earthquake, the earth will split or shift regardless of where a flimsy 5 inch roadway lies, or how it was designed, or where the center line of that roadway happens to be.

They could have had a 20 story building on that center line, with a solid foundation with no seams, and the earth would have shifted right under it, likely causing it's collapse.

[11Bush]

I did not imply that the asphalt dictated where the ground moved, but the seam in the asphalt did dictate where the asphalt split.