950 ton, 30' wide, 174' long, bridge built to allow Sweetwater's Florida International University students to cross above a busy street to cross "safely" has collapsed suddenly, proof that it wasn't safe 5 days after being placed, and a year before opening to pedestrians and cyclists.

at least 4 vehicles were flattened. Several people are wounded, several are dead, and it's going to be awhile until the span is lifted and a full press release occurs.

And with two architectural bridge engineering firms partnered to design and build it... this is going to be a long delayed diagnosis as to the cause, and no doubt will go forgotten and unnoticed years from now.

I doubt the bridge was tested once installed, to determine the load bearing ability. I wonder if was even going to be tested?

"The bridge was reportedly put to a "stress adjustment" before it collapsed over traffic before 2 p.m. on Thursday. Two workers were on top when it pancaked on top of vehicles waiting at a stoplight.

Perez and Miami-Dade County deputy mayor Maurice Kemp would not confirm if that test did take place."

"One factor in the tragedy may have been that adjustment that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said crews were conducting on the span.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted late Thursday that the cables that suspend the bridge had loosened and the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. "They were being tightened when it collapsed," he said on Twitter. "


U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who is an adjunct professor at the school, noted the bridge was intended to be an innovative and "one-of-a-kind engineering design."

Renderings showed a tall, off-center tower with supporting cables attached to the walkway. When the bridge collapsed, the main tower had not yet been installed, and it was unclear what builders were using as temporary supports.

And for all the fancy computer engineering that went into making a 950 ton slab of concrete that needed to be sound and last for decades... I wonder if anyone considered studying the bridges that have been built and lasted for centuries, and made without computers staffed by young engineers and architects? You know, when only the most experienced geniuses could figure out how to get people over an open space without a support structure underneath.

the oldest bridges in use now are 3000-3200 years old. But the ones that actually have a long enough comparable span are 200+ years old

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/Pedestrian-Bridge-Collapses-Crushes-Cars-Nears-FIU-476984933.html
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/steel/pubs/if12052/volume05.pdf
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/Recovery-Mission-Begins-Bridge-Collapse-Florida-International-Universitry-477077943.html?_osource=Newltr_Station_Hdlines_KNSD