I-35w Bridge Essay
Have you ever crossed a bridge when driving around your city and thought about how it was constructed or how long did it take to be built or is this bridge really safe and will it ever fall down. Well, I certainly have and I know that I don’t want for a bridge to fall down whenever I am driving or walking across one. It was 6:05 pm, the rush hour in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the unimaginable at the I-35W bridge occurred. On August 1, 2007 the 1,907 foot long bridge collapsed leaving dozens of cars and trucks trapped and in the Mississippi River. The accident left 13 people dead and caused for 145 to be injured. This paper talks about the structural form of the I-35W Bridge, some circumstances that lead to the collapse, why the bridge fell
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For instance, guidelines have since been issued to better detect problems with gusset plates and bridge design. Major issue in this nightmare were the gusset plates so now a lot of states in the U.S have stepped up bridge inspections and repairs so that nothing like this happens in they’re own state. As well bridge owners have to conduct load capacity calculations to verify that the stress levels in all structural elements, including gusset plates, remain within applicable requirements whenever planned modifications or operational changes may significantly increase stresses. Obviously as a result of the collapse the state of Minnesota constructed a new bridge, which was said to last 100 years. The new I-35 is state of the art and has received many awards like the America’s Transportation Awards’ Grand Prize in October of 2009 and it was named one of America’s 10 best transportation projects in September of 2009.
Photo: Altamish Osman In conclusion the I-35W Bridge’s design had some flaws which led to the collapse of it in August 1, 2007 and in this paper we spoke about the structural form of the I-35W bridge, some circumstances that led to the collapse, why the bridge fell and some post-effects of the collapse. If the construction company have calculated that the bridge was already in enough stress and not placed the construction material above the design flaws, which were the gusset plates, the collapse would have been
For instance, guidelines have since been issued to better detect problems with gusset plates and bridge design. Major issue in this nightmare were the gusset plates so now a lot of states in the U.S have stepped up bridge inspections and repairs so that nothing like this happens in they’re own state. As well bridge owners have to conduct load capacity calculations to verify that the stress levels in all structural elements, including gusset plates, remain within applicable requirements whenever planned modifications or operational changes may significantly increase stresses. Obviously as a result of the collapse the state of Minnesota constructed a new bridge, which was said to last 100 years. The new I-35 is state of the art and has received many awards like the America’s Transportation Awards’ Grand Prize in October of 2009 and it was named one of America’s 10 best transportation projects in September of 2009.
Photo: Altamish Osman In conclusion the I-35W Bridge’s design had some flaws which led to the collapse of it in August 1, 2007 and in this paper we spoke about the structural form of the I-35W bridge, some circumstances that led to the collapse, why the bridge fell and some post-effects of the collapse. If the construction company have calculated that the bridge was already in enough stress and not placed the construction material above the design flaws, which were the gusset plates, the collapse would have been