A few days ago, a section of the highest ramp in a spaghetti arterial of ramps separated in Albany, NY. The downtown highway ramps and Dunn Memorial Bridge were built in 1969 and 1970 during the federal government's hand out of hundreds of millions of dollars in Urban Renewal projects.
Although originally built to handle much more traffic than it actually does and passed an inspection only 2 months ago, the bridge section still failed.
Anyone who lived in upstate New York in the late 80's remembers the Schoharie Creek Bridge collapse along Interstate 90 which claimed 8 lives. This bridge collapsed from the erosion from a pilon, but again, this was a bridge constructed in the late 60's where federal money was flowing.
My question is: Isn't it obvious that very good engineering can easily be compromised by free flowing money and haste to build? Or is this just coincidence. And shouldn't highway inspectors be focusing heavily on the construction of bridges built during the mid-60s and early 70s?
Here's a link to other bridge failures.
"American Bridges Falling Down, Falling Down..
What disturbs me
