Skip to content
Do you have adblock enabled?
 
If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

(Daily Mail)   Bridge collapse could be due to Italian coronavirus mutating into STEEL-DEVOURING ANDROMEDA STRAIN. That, or shiatty maintenance. Could be either, really   (dailymail.co.uk) divider line
    More: Scary  
•       •       •

3226 clicks; posted to Main » on 08 Apr 2020 at 6:30 PM (4 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Copy Link



45 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
lolmao500  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (7)  
2020-04-08 1:30:40 PM  
Well good thing theres that virus thing otherwise there could have been dozens of dead
 
2020-04-08 6:34:56 PM  

lolmao500: Well good thing theres that virus thing otherwise there could have been dozens of dead


Yeah, if ever there was an "optimal" time for a bridge to collapse, it's when everyone is quarantined.
 
hissatsu [TotalFark]  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 6:36:25 PM  
Bridges collapse when not maintained. Who knew?
 
2020-04-08 6:37:57 PM  
You lost another bridge, Andrei?
 
2020-04-08 6:38:43 PM  

hissatsu: Bridges collapse when not maintained. Who knew?


They'll just blame the geologists for not detecting the earthquake that clearly caused this.
 
bucket_pup [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (4)  
2020-04-08 6:40:45 PM  
See, jet fuel can't bring down a bridge on its on.....there were thermite charges set by big oil ..... and that religious group that EVERYONE KNOWS is up to no good....... wait....what were talking about, again?
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
JuggleGeek [OhFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (1)  
2020-04-08 6:42:41 PM  
Good people on both sides.

/top of the bridge
//under the bridge
 
2020-04-08 6:43:03 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Percise1  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 6:43:20 PM  
Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.
 
MythDragon  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (11)  
2020-04-08 6:44:21 PM  
Corona doesn't cause a fever hot enough to melt steel!
 
2020-04-08 6:47:01 PM  
Well, it's no Ponte Morandi
 
Destructor [TotalFark] [OhFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 6:49:15 PM  
Quick! Tell the President to call off Directive 7-12!!!
 
sirgrim [OhFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (15)  
2020-04-08 6:51:28 PM  
Bridge was sad about going unused, jumped off itself.
 
orbister  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 6:56:23 PM  
Who'd have thought that having a construction industry which is either owned by the Mafia or is paying off the Mafia would cause problems, particularly when combined with governmental oversight as stringent and honest as in Italy?
 
NINEv2  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (11)  
2020-04-08 7:04:11 PM  
I get to use this one again...

Italian engineering. Is there anything it CAN do?
 
2020-04-08 7:05:41 PM  

hissatsu: Bridges collapse when not maintained. Who knew?


If your bridge collapses after two months of not being maintained, you are bridging wrong.
 
lycanth  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (1)  
2020-04-08 7:06:49 PM  
Two drivers have been taken to hospital after sustaining minor injuries
A similar disaster in 2018 befell the port city of Genoa but with a far higher number of fatalities.


Well, any number of fatalities is higher than zero, unless you can have negative fatalities.
 
2020-04-08 7:09:00 PM  

lycanth: Two drivers have been taken to hospital after sustaining minor injuries
A similar disaster in 2018 befell the port city of Genoa but with a far higher number of fatalities.

Well, any number of fatalities is higher than zero, unless you can have negative fatalities.


Negative Fatalities is the name of my retro goth revival band!
 
2020-04-08 7:09:43 PM  

lycanth: Two drivers have been taken to hospital after sustaining minor injuries
A similar disaster in 2018 befell the port city of Genoa but with a far higher number of fatalities.

Well, any number of fatalities is higher than zero, unless you can have negative fatalities.


Pregnant woman pre-mes due to surprise?  Would be a strange headline - Bridge collapses, one born!
 
Percise1  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 7:14:52 PM  

GrogSmash: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.

Cascade failure of the primary supports underneath.

Basically think of the whole bridge being hung on a couple of high tension cables.  Once one cable snaps, the whole thing falls down.  Only instead of cables its a set of steel beams.


OK, not a structional engineer, but there isn't one steel beam across the whole thing. They must be in series/parallel, and probably join at the supports (mid span would create more tension on the joint). I suppose everything could domino due to lack of tension regardless, but that would come back to schitty design, wouldn't it?
For example, the SF Bay bridge that lost a deck or two in the '89 earthquake... it didn't fold up like like a deck of cards. I understand that designs are different, but to have the whole thing drop for no reason at all is either sabotage, or a schitt design.
 
2020-04-08 7:18:15 PM  

Dork Gently: hissatsu: Bridges collapse when not maintained. Who knew?

If your bridge collapses after two months of not being maintained, you are bridging wrong.


I'd like to introduce you to "Italy"
 
2020-04-08 7:20:23 PM  

Percise1: GrogSmash: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.

Cascade failure of the primary supports underneath.

Basically think of the whole bridge being hung on a couple of high tension cables.  Once one cable snaps, the whole thing falls down.  Only instead of cables its a set of steel beams.

OK, not a structional engineer, but there isn't one steel beam across the whole thing. They must be in series/parallel, and probably join at the supports (mid span would create more tension on the joint). I suppose everything could domino due to lack of tension regardless, but that would come back to schitty design, wouldn't it?
For example, the SF Bay bridge that lost a deck or two in the '89 earthquake... it didn't fold up like like a deck of cards. I understand that designs are different, but to have the whole thing drop for no reason at all is either sabotage, or a schitt design.


This reminded me of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.  A single plate breaking caused the entire thing to go down, and it looked similar to the pictures I saw of this one.

/shiat design
 
Percise1  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (3)  
2020-04-08 7:28:35 PM  

NINEv2: I get to use this one again...

Italian engineering. Is there anything it CAN do?


Nice story that almost changed the war power alliance.
Apparently there was a German naval leader in Italy meeting with heads of state, and they were going to go elsewhere as well. The Italians offered to take him to that location on their flag ship submarine, and the German said "no thanks". The Italians were pissed, and the German walked down to his U-boat, got in and sealed the hatch.

Probably not true, but actually sounds accurate.

Had a buddy who raced motorcycles in a fairly high level. He raced Ducatis, and I cringed when he said that. He said they handle awesome, and when they run right, I win. I asked him what place he was in... 27th.

Take it as you will. I'd rather have the British do the engineering.
*puts barrel of gun in mouth*
 
CRM119  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 7:29:09 PM  
Anybody familiar with mob construction could have predicted this outcome --- beware of dumpster45 infrastructure improvements
 
OkieDookie  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (8)  
2020-04-08 7:31:41 PM  

BigNumber12: Dork Gently: hissatsu: Bridges collapse when not maintained. Who knew?

If your bridge collapses after two months of not being maintained, you are bridging wrong.

I'd like to introduce you to "Italy"


It's a high performance super bridge. You have to take it apart to lubricate it weekly
 
2020-04-08 7:33:33 PM  

Fursecution: Percise1: GrogSmash: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.

Cascade failure of the primary supports underneath.

Basically think of the whole bridge being hung on a couple of high tension cables.  Once one cable snaps, the whole thing falls down.  Only instead of cables its a set of steel beams.

OK, not a structional engineer, but there isn't one steel beam across the whole thing. They must be in series/parallel, and probably join at the supports (mid span would create more tension on the joint). I suppose everything could domino due to lack of tension regardless, but that would come back to schitty design, wouldn't it?
For example, the SF Bay bridge that lost a deck or two in the '89 earthquake... it didn't fold up like like a deck of cards. I understand that designs are different, but to have the whole thing drop for no reason at all is either sabotage, or a schitt design.

This reminded me of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.  A single plate breaking caused the entire thing to go down, and it looked similar to the pictures I saw of this one.

/shiat design


One of my cousins is a structural engineer working with the state of Minnesota, he's working on a project to assess other bridges and confirm they don't have the same issue. That bridge is in many "DO NOT DO THIS" manuals.

/CSB: my brother lived in Minneapolis and traveled that bridge daily. He was home sick the day it collapsed, there's a decent chance he would have been part of the disaster due to the time of day it happened.
 
DippityDoo  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 7:36:27 PM  

TheCableGuy: Fursecution: Percise1: GrogSmash: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.

Cascade failure of the primary supports underneath.

Basically think of the whole bridge being hung on a couple of high tension cables.  Once one cable snaps, the whole thing falls down.  Only instead of cables its a set of steel beams.

OK, not a structional engineer, but there isn't one steel beam across the whole thing. They must be in series/parallel, and probably join at the supports (mid span would create more tension on the joint). I suppose everything could domino due to lack of tension regardless, but that would come back to schitty design, wouldn't it?
For example, the SF Bay bridge that lost a deck or two in the '89 earthquake... it didn't fold up like like a deck of cards. I understand that designs are different, but to have the whole thing drop for no reason at all is either sabotage, or a schitt design.

This reminded me of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.  A single plate breaking caused the entire thing to go down, and it looked similar to the pictures I saw of this one.

/shiat design

One of my cousins is a structural engineer working with the state of Minnesota, he's working on a project to assess other bridges and confirm they don't have the same issue. That bridge is in many "DO NOT DO THIS" manuals.

/CSB: my brother lived in Minneapolis and traveled that bridge daily. He was home sick the day it collapsed, there's a decent chance he would have been part of the disaster due to the time of day it happened.


Cool story bro
 
2020-04-08 7:39:40 PM  

BrundleFlyForAWhiteGuy: lolmao500: Well good thing theres that virus thing otherwise there could have been dozens of dead

Yeah, if ever there was an "optimal" time for a bridge to collapse, it's when everyone is quarantined.


It reminds me of the MacArthur Expressway collapse in 1989 during what should have been rush hour - and that chunk of the Bay Bridge at the same time. People had either left work early, or gone to bars near work, to watch the World Series baseball competition between the cross-bay rival teams of San Francisco and Oakland.
 
Percise1  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 7:44:15 PM  

GrogSmash: Percise1: GrogSmash: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.

Cascade failure of the primary supports underneath.

Basically think of the whole bridge being hung on a couple of high tension cables.  Once one cable snaps, the whole thing falls down.  Only instead of cables its a set of steel beams.

OK, not a structional engineer, but there isn't one steel beam across the whole thing. They must be in series/parallel, and probably join at the supports (mid span would create more tension on the joint). I suppose everything could domino due to lack of tension regardless, but that would come back to schitty design, wouldn't it?
For example, the SF Bay bridge that lost a deck or two in the '89 earthquake... it didn't fold up like like a deck of cards. I understand that designs are different, but to have the whole thing drop for no reason at all is either sabotage, or a schitt design.

Different fundamental design in the bridges.

In the case of the GGB, the deck is hung from the overhead cables.  As long as those cables, and the supports hold, any failure of the deck is localized.

In the case of this bridge, the supports are held together under load.  Think of a stone arch.  Every stone has to be held in place, or the whole thing collapses.  I suspect the support system under this bridge was similar.

And the reason for the two different designs?  Cable stay bridges (I think that is the term) like the GGB are more expensive to build.  The other design is cheaper, and modular.  Unfortunately, when they fold up, this happens.


Very good points, so thank you.
I wasn't talking about the GGB, that didn't fail. It was the "Bay Bridge" (there are a few bridges in the SF bay), but it is obviously still a suspension type bridge, so that does make sense.

wtop.comView Full Size


I do understand the arch principle, the key stone, etc, but these were multiple failures that would probably not have occurred had they been individual arches, even linked like that bridge. That damn thing folded across 5 sections, several of them on dry land.
Again, I'm not a civil/structional engineer, but the WTF sense is still there.
That said, I do like crapping on Italian engineering. They deserve it. Isn't that where we got Harleys?
 
2020-04-08 7:44:35 PM  
didn't they learn anything from the Romans?
 
2020-04-08 7:48:51 PM  

Fursecution: Percise1: GrogSmash: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


But seriously, the whole thing went down, not just one section? Was the while thing built with silly string? And why does it collapse when no one is using it? You would have thought that traffic 1 month ago would do the trick.

Cascade failure of the primary supports underneath.

Basically think of the whole bridge being hung on a couple of high tension cables.  Once one cable snaps, the whole thing falls down.  Only instead of cables its a set of steel beams.

OK, not a structional engineer, but there isn't one steel beam across the whole thing. They must be in series/parallel, and probably join at the supports (mid span would create more tension on the joint). I suppose everything could domino due to lack of tension regardless, but that would come back to schitty design, wouldn't it?
For example, the SF Bay bridge that lost a deck or two in the '89 earthquake... it didn't fold up like like a deck of cards. I understand that designs are different, but to have the whole thing drop for no reason at all is either sabotage, or a schitt design.

This reminded me of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.  A single plate breaking caused the entire thing to go down, and it looked similar to the pictures I saw of this one.

/shiat design


The plates were half as thick as they should have been, plus they loaded an extra 300 tons of equipment and supplies on it to boot.  A number of bridge failures are a combo package of under-design sprinkled with improper maintenance.
 
dyhchong  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (1)  
2020-04-08 7:50:04 PM  
When life imitates Apple Maps.
 
2020-04-08 7:50:23 PM  

E_Henry_Thripshaws_Disease: didn't they learn anything from the Romans?


They learned to have fractionally less confusing grammar than what inspired "Romani eunt domus".
 
jtown  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (8)  
2020-04-08 8:00:54 PM  
masstlc.orgView Full Size
 
WastrelWay  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 8:14:19 PM  

Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.


The Romans were great engineers. Their roads, buildings and aqueducts still exist. And I personally doubt that they calculated those arches and domes using Roman numerals. I'm not going to say anything about the Italians of today.
 
GoldDude  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (3)  
2020-04-08 8:34:55 PM  
Sub-standard construction by Italians? It cant be true!

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
JakeStone  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 8:52:47 PM  
Well.  Now I don't believe in Italy anymore.
 
Rik01 [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 8:55:34 PM  
The Italian government is infamous for it's miles of red tape that people have to laboriously crawl through in order to get things done. Even then sleazy subcontractors usually don't do a good job because they want to make more money, so they say they did it when they didn't or they overlook expensive, necessary repairs. More cost effective that way.

Kind of like in China and South Korea.
 
apathy2673  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-08 9:35:07 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
2020-04-08 10:40:27 PM  
It's not collapsed - it's resting. Pining for the Rubicon.
 
2020-04-08 10:48:38 PM  

TheCableGuy: Fursecution: 
This reminded me of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.  A single plate breaking caused the entire thing to go down, and it looked similar to the pictures I saw of this one.

/shiat design

One of my cousins is a structural engineer working with the state of Minnesota, he's working on a project to assess other bridges and confirm they don't have the same issue. That bridge is in many "DO NOT DO THIS" manuals.

/CSB: my brother lived in Minneapolis and traveled that bridge daily. He was home sick the day it collapsed, there's a decent chance he would have been part of the disaster due to the time of day it happened.


I had walked underneath it the week before, on the walk/bike path.  When I saw the TV that evening, my reaction was "Oh, of course it did."  The underside of that bridge looked incredibly ugly.

/A friend had driven over it twenty minutes before.  His husband was a bit panicked.
 
2020-04-08 11:11:22 PM  

GrogSmash: WastrelWay: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.

The Romans were great engineers. Their roads, buildings and aqueducts still exist. And I personally doubt that they calculated those arches and domes using Roman numerals. I'm not going to say anything about the Italians of today.

Fun little detail about Roman construction that I learned a couple years back.

You know that concrete that they used, which in some cases is still holding strong after 2000 years, and seems remarkably resistant to corrosion?  Where as the stuff we produce falls apart after 20 years?

They were using volcanic ash from the Pompeii eruption in their aggregate. It basically makes the stuff indestructible.


Volcanic ash makes a difference but the big problem for the modern stuff is the rebar.
 
2020-04-08 11:31:18 PM  
Isnt there a meme about how amazing Roman roads are?   Hmmmm
 
2020-04-09 2:58:44 AM  

GrogSmash: Monkeyfark Ridiculous: GrogSmash: WastrelWay: Percise1: Hey... it's the Italians... it very well could have just been another schitty design.

The Romans were great engineers. Their roads, buildings and aqueducts still exist. And I personally doubt that they calculated those arches and domes using Roman numerals. I'm not going to say anything about the Italians of today.

Fun little detail about Roman construction that I learned a couple years back.

You know that concrete that they used, which in some cases is still holding strong after 2000 years, and seems remarkably resistant to corrosion?  Where as the stuff we produce falls apart after 20 years?

They were using volcanic ash from the Pompeii eruption in their aggregate. It basically makes the stuff indestructible.

Volcanic ash makes a difference but the big problem for the modern stuff is the rebar.

You build a house made of bricks of shiat... don't be surprised it smells a little?


??
 
orbister  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2020-04-09 4:05:39 AM  

GrogSmash: Cable stay bridges (I think that is the term) like the GGB are more expensive to build.


The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge: suspension cables in a parabolic arc with hangers down to the deck. Cable stay bridges have more or less replaced suspension bridge and have cables direct from towers to deck. The forces are higher but they are much easier to maintain as you can replace individual stays.

Here's a picture of both types. Cable stayed nearer the camera. Steel cantilever just visible in the background.

scottishconstructionnow.comView Full Size
 
Displayed 45 of 45 comments

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

This thread is archived, and closed to new comments.

Continue Farking





  1. Links are submitted by members of the Fark community.

  2. When community members submit a link, they also write a custom headline for the story.

  3. Other Farkers comment on the links. This is the number of comments. Click here to read them.

  4. Click here to submit a link.