a bridge too far

      “FIU is about building bridges and student safety.  This project accomplishes our mission beautifully,” FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg boasted that day.  “We are filled with pride and satisfaction at seeing this engineering feat come to life and connect our campus to the surrounding community.”…

   The span had some kind of cables to help support it, and the bridge section that collapsed was attached to two smaller pylons at either end.  But in ABC projects like the FIU span, the loss of the extra support from the main tower during construction is a risk, Professor Amjad Aref, a researcher at the University at Buffalo’s department of civil, structural and environmental engineering said.

“Until all the pieces are put together to transmit the loads safely to the foundations, these bridges may suffer disproportionate or full collapse due to instability,” Aref said.  “Typically this process requires a few weeks.  During that time they are often supported by another system to ensure stability because they are really vulnerable to collapsing.”

“I am really puzzled that the tower does not exist,” Aref said.   http://www.dailyjournal.net/2018/03/16/us-bridge-collapse-accelerated-construction/

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       Bridge engineers had questioned why the column designed to rise above the bridge deck to a height of 109 feet wasn’t erected before a large section of the bridge deck was hoisted into place Saturday. 

The 174-foot section of deck collapsed Thursday, killing at least six people.

But while the column would have been needed as part of the support for a cable-stayed bridge, it was not needed for a truss bridge.

Cheryl Stopnick, an outside spokeswoman for FIGG Bridge Engineers, which designed the bridge, said the structure was “truss bridge with above-deck truss elements.”

Robert Accetta, the National Transportation Safety Board investigator in charge, said diagonal elements between the bridge’s canopy and deck worked like a truss bridge.  But the cables designed to fan out from the column weren’t needed to support the bridge deck, he said.  “As I understand it, these were cosmetic,” Accetta said.  “They were not structural members.”  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/03/16/miami-bridge-collapse-suspension-cables-support-tower/431418002/

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3-17-18        “It’s not an election,” Navalny said.

The aim is to target the turnout and highlight what Navalny argues is a “myth” of Putin’s popularity.  Navalny argues that, in reality, Putin's support is brittle and largely passive, protected by creating the impression there is no alternative. 

“It is the classic situation of an authoritarian country,” he said.  "Where an authoritarian leader gets 85 percent of the vote by using propaganda and scaring people.  People do not see other politicians.  Putin chooses dummy candidates, about which people say:  ‘Of course we have a load of clowns and there is great Putin who has been sitting for 18 years, let him stay on.’”

http://abcnews.go.com/International/russia-prepares-election-putin-victory-virtual-certainty/story?id=53818492