6/1/2003: Bridge collapse
 

http://cellar.org/2003/bridgecollapse.jpg

It's an oversized shot from the MSNBC Week in Pics. This
bridge collapse happened on I-80 in Nebraska. It turns out
that a different semi crashed into the bridge's two supports,
causing the bridge to fall on this semi.

Because I-80 is so busy and important, crews worked around
the clock to reopen it quickly.

That's gotta hurt. But I've heard of bridge collapses where
the entire roadway came down and "pancaked" a car underneath.
That wouldn't hurt at all - death would be instantaneous.

Whao, I went to college in Nebraska, and used I-80 many times. I wonder where it happened, One article I found says Big Springs, but there's so many little towns in Nebraska, I have no clue where that is.

I'm glad I live in California now, where it's safe. Earthquakes you say? Naw, except for college, I've lived in California my whole life, and have never felt an earthquake. The only times it ever felt like an earthquake was going off was when the F-16s and occasional F-4s were taking off at the airport about a mile from my school.

Big Springs is only a few miles east of the I-80/I-76 split.
That looks like an owner/operator rig. He's probably got $2000 a month payments to make on the truck as well as feed the family. Looks like mostly body damage though, so probably no quick insurance check to get a new truck. As least he's alive to worry about it unlike the guy who took out the center supports.

What is that stuff that was in the truck?

Looks like foam insulation. It's a (was a) refrigerated trailer.

xoxoxoBruce, where did you see that the driver survived? I went searching for more information on Google news, and the articles I read said the driver was killed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/s...711397,00.html

The Gaurdian article must have been written by an American since the Brits refer to large trucks as "lorrys, not semis or tractor trailers. Needless to say had the driver not been killed he would have been sacked by his firm or fired by his company depending what side of the Atlantic you are on :)

I may be wrong, but I think that Bruce was saying that the truck driver owned his own rig. So I guess he was a sort of "mercenary". Right?

Hell, at least they didn't all fall into a river and drown like they did in Webber Falls.

Also, that article states that the same truck was responsible for the bridge collapse. Makes sense, because the front of the truck it's a mess (if the bridge had just collapsed over the trailer, why should be the front damaged?)


(Aw, any spelling corrections welcome)

I just keep thinking...
 

Oh my God, the Insurance claim!!! There is a calims adjuster going "Oh Shit" right now:eek:

other bad bridge disasters
 

My favorite all time bridge disaster was the one at the Tacoma Narrows in Washington state in 1940. Here is a short mpg link from the original film. You can buy the whole video for about $55.00

http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/Exhibi...rowsBridge.mpg

I first saw the film of it in a college physics class. I think we reran it about 15 times.

That's right but the truck you're looking at is not the one that took the bridge down. That truck went onto the median and dead (no pun) into the two supports. This truck stayed on the road but couldn't make it under the collapsed bridge. Only the first driver was killed.

Re: other bad bridge disasters
 

I've seen that footage before, on TV a couple of times. I should think that someone has the whole thing online for free ...