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Just not a discussion': How paralyzing group-think led to six deaths at FIU bridge
Florida International University recorded a time lapse from three different angles of the doomed pedestrian bridge being raised over Southwest Eighth Street and then collapsing, killing six people. The time-lapse video spans from March 1 to March 19. BY FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
The first sign something was terribly wrong with Florida International University’s ambitious, unfinished pedestrian bridge over Tamiami Trail came nearly three weeks before it collapsed onto idling cars and killed six people.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018, the 174-foot span, manufactured on site at the side of the trail, was still resting on temporary supports just off the ground. As crews stripped off the framing pieces used to shape and support the concrete structure, a loud cracking sound rang out — so sharp that startled workers ran out from under the span.
“As we were stripping it, I looked out of the office and everybody was out from underneath the bridge. I said, ‘Oh, shit,’ “ John Jackson, a supervisor with subcontractor Structural Group of South Florida, later told an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is expected to rule early next week on what caused the collapse. “So, I ran out there and everybody said, ‘Aw man, aw man, the bridge went whoop like that.’ ... I said, ‘Well, you guys stand down. I’ll go up on top of the bridge to find out what’s up.’ So, I get up there and both trusses on each end [had] cracked at the bottom where it meets the bridge.”
The first sign something was terribly wrong with Florida International University’s ambitious, unfinished pedestrian bridge over Tamiami Trail came nearly three weeks before it collapsed onto idling cars and killed six people.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018, the 174-foot span, manufactured on site at the side of the trail, was still resting on temporary supports just off the ground. As crews stripped off the framing pieces used to shape and support the concrete structure, a loud cracking sound rang out — so sharp that startled workers ran out from under the span.
“As we were stripping it, I looked out of the office and everybody was out from underneath the bridge. I said, ‘Oh, shit,’ “ John Jackson, a supervisor with subcontractor Structural Group of South Florida, later told an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is expected to rule early next week on what caused the collapse. “So, I ran out there and everybody said, ‘Aw man, aw man, the bridge went whoop like that.’ ... I said, ‘Well, you guys stand down. I’ll go up on top of the bridge to find out what’s up.’ So, I get up there and both trusses on each end [had] cracked at the bottom where it meets the bridge.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article236250848.html
6 replies
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That is an incredibly long and detailed article. Often times, technical issues get mangled by non-technical reporters.
They did a remarkable job of getting the engineering descriptions correct in relatively non-technical language. That is not an easy task.
