Falling Suspension Bridge

At approximately 6.00 p.m. on August 1, 2007, the bridge carrying Interstate Highway
135W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapse, plunging rush-hour traffic some 35
meters down with the bridge and into the river. Many of the people in the cars, busses, and trucks
survived the unexpected drop; however, 13 were killed and about 80 were injured. Rescue
response was almost immediate, and many heroic acts were performed by the surviving
passengers, police, and rescue workers, demonstrating that the community was well prepared for
the emergency (Theodore, 2008). The collapse of this bridge was sudden, unexpected, and
complete. There are many thousands of bridges in the world, and there have been partial failures
and total collapses. The type of the bridges that collapsed is suspension bridge and there were a
lot of cases the media most of the time. Yet it does happen all the time and the memory of such
an event lasts the lifetime of the generation that experienced it, even remotely through reports by
the media. Through many surveys and investigation have been done by experts, there are several
problems that contribute to the collapse of this type of bridge.

“Can we do it, should we do it, if we do it, can we control it, and are we wiling to be
accountable for it?” These questions encompass every decision made in engineering today
although it was not always that way and from this, study of factors that contribute to the
problems of the bridge stated that there is deficiency in engineering ethics by the engineers while
performing in their work. Talking about engineers nowadays, they are not performing their
duties as conscientiously as possible. A lack of confidence is inherited by engineers from the old
days. Some of them misrepresent their knowledge by accepting jobs outside their area of
expertise (Piesold, 1991). For example, freshly graduated geotechnical engineering students are
appointed or applied for jobs in the structural field just to get a job as a civil engineers because it
is under the same civil engineering core. Bad management throughout the period of construction
is also going unnoticed; such as the local contractors that are hired, who often opt for shoddy
materials to cut costs and under them are those migrant labourers with little safety training.

Extreme condition or environments is also a factor that contributes to the failure of this
type of bridge. As we know, suspension bridges consist of cables suspended between two towers
as one point of their structure. Due to this, wind load or speed exceeding estimation within the
area where the construction takes place affects the stability of the bridge structures and leads to
its falling down. During hurricane in June 2001, a runaway 1000 ton crane barge struck 3 or
more stay cables of the Ching Ming Jang Cable Stayed Bridge in Fuzhou, China (Petroski,
1992). This shows that unexpected bad weather cannot be avoided and other factors such as
snowstorms and also very intense rainfall that produce extreme river loads can overwhelmed
such bridges.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, design flaws and structural
failures are the reasons that mostly cause the falling of the suspension bridges (Galamboss,
2008). Sometimes, the contractors and engineers are unaware if there are any hidden defects of
the materials chosen for the construction of the bridges. This problem is currently thought to be
the most common cause of bridge failure and is the priority of ongoing research.

Other cases of failures of structures are fatigue and brittle fracture of structural members
and connections. This type of failure is frequently caused by a misunderstanding of the details of
connections or by the use of incorrect materials. This is the case where materials used fail to
function due to inappropriate types of materials chosen to be matched with its function on the
design (Pugsley, 1991).

Often, all the factors mentioned above are found to be the root of the failure of
suspension bridges. Those who are reliable to perform this type of work must fully comply with
professional ethics of being responsible and aware. Civil works are to be done to accommodate
the public so as to spare lives, not to reduce populations. The materials use for every design
should be taken into consideration in reducing errors that can cause the failure of the suspension
bridges. When this is not taken into consideration, the factors that lead to the failure of this type
of bridge will be taken care of in the future.
 References

Galamboss, T., V (2008, June 2). Safety of bridges Vol: 38

Retrieved February 17, 2010 from http://NYtimes.com.mht

Piesold, D.D.A., McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. (1991). Civil Engineering Practice:

Engineering Success By Analysis. Retrieved February 17, 2010 from

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/lis_of_brige_failure

Pugsley, A., (1991). The Safety of Structures. London, U.K. Edward Arnold Publishers.

Retrieved February 17, 2010 from http://thesafetybridges.mht

Chiles, J. R, Harper Business, New York. (2002). Inviting Disaster: Lesson From The Edge of

Technology. Retrieved February 17, 2010 from http://wikipedia.org/wiki

Petroski, H., Vintage Boks, New York. (1992). Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and

Judgement In Engineering. Retrieved February 6, 2010 from Pustaka Negeri Sarawak.