Toll roads, what a crock!
Bridge collapse jumpstarts turnpike upgrades
A comprehensive plan to address safety and capacity issues on the Connecticut Turnpike did not progress beyond the initial planning stages until the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge on June 28, 1983.[6] Following the collapse, governor William A. O'Neill initiated an $8 billion program to rehabilitate Connecticut's highways. Included in this program was the inspection and repair of the Turnpike's nearly 300 bridges and overpasses. Furthermore, Governor O'Neill directed the Connecticut Department of Transportation to develop a viable plan for addressing safety and congestion on the state's roads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Turnpike#Bridge_collapse_jumpstarts_turnpike_upgradesOne of my coworkers was in one of those semis...
Collapse
The bridge had a 100-foot (30.5 m) section of its deck of its northbound span collapse on June 28, 1983. Three people were killed when two cars and two tractor-trailers [1] fell with the bridge into the Mianus River 70 feet (21.3 m) below; three were seriously injured.[2]
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Causes
The collapse was caused by the failure of two pin and hanger assemblies that held the deck in place on the outer side of the bridge. Rust formed within the bearing of the pin, exerting a force on the hanger which was beyond design limits for the retaining clamps. It forced the hanger on the inside part of the expansion joint at the southeast corner off the end of the pin that was holding it, and the load was shifted to outside hanger. The extra load on the remaining hanger started a fatigue crack at a sharp corner on the pin. When it failed catastrophically, the deck was supported at just three corners. When two heavy trucks and a car entered the section, the remaining expansion joint failed, and the deck crashed into the river below.
The ensuing investigation cited corrosion from water buildup due to inadequate drainage as a cause. During road mending some 10 years before, the highway drains had been deliberately blocked and the crew failed to unblock them when the road work was completed.[4] Rainwater leaked down through the pin bearings, causing them to rust. The outer bearings were fracture-critical and non-redundant, a design flaw of this particular type of structure. The bearings were difficult to inspect close-up, although traces of rust could be seen near the affected bearings.
The incident was also blamed on inadequate inspection resources in the state of Connecticut. At the time of the disaster, the state had just 12 engineers, working in pairs, assigned to inspect 3,425 bridges. The collapse came despite the nationwide inspection procedures brought about by the collapse of the Silver Bridge in West Virginia in December 1967.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianus_River_BridgeYeah, privatize everything so we all have to pay the rich for breathing... what it will come to if we don't stop them
= new reply since forum marked as read
I always thought that would make a nice movie treatment. 
