Bridge Collapse in Frick Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

[LostInTyme]

The infrastructure bill didn't come in time for this one. No one was killed.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
A minor miracle, that.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Agreed. A miracle.
Infrastructure is a mess. Spending required.
Ooops. Sorry. Too “political”.
Please delete this thread. Thanks!

 

[Zombie_61]

I'd hate to be the person who signed off on that bridge's last safety inspection. "Oh, yeah, solid as a...what was that noise?"

 

[Tiki Tom]

Any weird flying creatures associated with this bridge collapse? Did Men in Black show up shortly thereafter?

Reminds me of the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Cue the creepy music.

https://1428elm.com/2017/12/28/point-pleasant-silver-bridge-collapse-and-the-mothman-50-years?-later/

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Homeless camps & people living more or less permanently under bridges can do a lot of damage. A recent fire under a bridge in KC killed a 28 yr old woman among those living under there. They had the area under the bridge almost totally rocked up for privacy & to hold the heat in from their fires. They had 2x4's overhead running across between the bottom flanges of the steel girders with bedding above where they slept overhead. So much trash & crap under there it was like an inferno & when the fire got out of hand the others living under there deserted leaving the victim's body behind.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article257335137.html

 

[ES335]

There's nothing "political" about failing critical infrastructure in an economy where growth is utterly dependant on the efficient, safe and reliable movement of goods, people and services. There is in America, however, politics as usual from the usuals in failing to properly fund development and and long-term maintenance.

 

[LostInTyme]

I agree. Today, I learned that in Pennsylvania, bridge inspections and the reports there-of are deliberately kept SECRET from the public. This is state law. Sounds much like a conspiracy to keep the people the dark and risking their lives needlessly when they may be in danger.

 

[ES335]

Homeless camps & people living more or less permanently under bridges can do a lot of damage. A recent fire under a bridge in KC killed a 28 yr old woman among those living under there. They had the area under the bridge almost totally rocked up for privacy & to hold the heat in from their fires. They had 2x4's overhead running across between the bottom flanges of the steel girders with bedding above where they slept overhead. So much trash & crap under there it was like an inferno & when the fire got out of hand the others living under there deserted leaving the victim's body behind.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article257335137.html

I'm pretty sure very few people of sound mind, health, and ecomomic security live under bridges by choice. Especially in the dead of Pa's winter. Regardless, my best guess is cheap design, shoddy contracting, poor inspections and maint. are far more likely to blame. Expect more of these failures to come. You get what you pay for, and tolerate.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I agree. Today, I learned that in Pennsylvania, bridge inspections and the reports there-of are deliberately kept SECRET from the public. This is state law. Sounds much like a conspiracy to keep the people the dark and risking their lives needlessly when they may be in danger.

I’m just going to drop this in here as a fact check, then leave this all behind before things turn bad.


https://gis.penndot.gov/paprojects/BridgeConditionsMap.aspx

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I'm pretty sure very few people of sound mind, health, and ecomomic security live under bridges by choice. Especially in the dead of Pa's winter. Regardless, my best guess is cheap design, shoddy contracting, poor inspections and maint. are far more likely to blame. Expect more of these failures to come. You get what you pay for, and tolerate.

I simply will leave that comment alone.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

There's nothing "political" about failing critical infrastructure in an economy where growth is utterly dependant on the efficient, safe and reliable movement of goods, people and services. There is in America, however, politics as usual from the usuals in failing to properly fund development and and long-term maintenance.

No, the "political" part comes in when you decide who pays for it. Who built this bridge, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or Uncle Sam?

If the bridge isn't on an interstate highway (where the federal fuel tax is imposed to maintain it) then just who is responsible for maintaining (i.e., paying) is a political question. No governor or mayor wants to run for re-election after having overseen the imposition of higher taxes to pay for needed local infrastructure work. None want to be vilified for moving money from some pressure group's favorite social program to pay for them, so they go to Uncle Sam for "free money".

My home town is located on the Allegheny river. In 1908 the County built a bridge across the river there, replacing the ferry service. In 2016 that bridge was demolished in spectacular fashion after a replacement was constructed financed 80% by the federal government.

 

[Motocann]

Decades of failing infrastructure is part of a larger problem, which is rooted in the forever increasing “corporate welfare state”. The Wall Street criminals have systematically high jacked our political systems and looted the public tax base. Corporations have manipulated the 14th amendment to obtained “personhood”, henceforth they have used this precedent to defraud the American taxpayers. Follow the money and ask yourself, “Exactly how does someone like Bill Gates make so much money?” Recommended reading…

 

[ES335]

Careful, Merv. you'll get called a socialist... or something or other by people who don't begin to understand the terms they try and hurl as insults. Rich how those who demand all the benifits of living in this country tirelessly avoid paying the costs of membership to Club America, while insisting others shoulder the burden.

 

[Motocann]

Careful, Merv. you'll get called a socialist... or something or other by people who don't begin to understand the terms they try and hurl as insults. Rich how those who demand all the benifits of living in this country tirelessly avoid paying the costs of membership to Club America, while insisting others shoulder the burden.

Meh... I don't really care what other people call me. The word "socialist" has become one of those dog whistle words. Still, we live in unprecedented times, where according to Thomas Piketty, there's more capital in the top 4% of the world's population, then all the accumulated wealth throughout history. If that's not Socialism for a select few people, I don't know what is.