The I-35W Bridge

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REFORMING STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF BRIDGES:
ANALYSIS ON THE COLLAPSE OF I-35W
With over six and a half million kilometers of roads and over two hundred fifty million registered vehicles, the United States must work to maintain the structural integrities of its roads and prevent unnecessary loss of lives. On August 1 of 2007, at precisely 6:05 PM, the I-35 West Bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing thirteen people and injuring another one hundred and forty five. The incident left the entire nation in both shock and doubt of the safety of its roads. Their doubts are not unwarranted. Structural engineer experts reveal that over eight thousand bridges in the United States alone are in need of remodeling. In order to assess fully …show more content…

The Washington State Department of Transportation states that gusset plates are used to connect two or more structural members at a joint in a steel truss and need to be strong enough to accommodate the loads and stresses that a bridge will experience throughout its lifetime. The undersized gusset plates of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis evidently did not serve its purpose. Experts and analysts suggest that if the gusset plates needed to be at least twice its original half inch size in order to have sustained the bridge …show more content…

What can future engineers and bridge builders change to prevent such unnecessary costs? ThinkReliability, a consultant group that study root cause analysis focusing on problems and processes, gives a few suggestions. The first reform that must be made is the limiting of weight concentration of construction materials. Moreover, staging materials on bridges must require written permission so that the concentration of weight could have been calculated and prevented. The next solution is to ensure that bridge inspectors receive formal bridge construction training ensuring that they can accurately assess the conditions of the bridge. Thirdly, a weight analysis should be required after every major renovation or increase of dead weight. This will provide a more realistic understanding of the bridge’s load capacity and safety margin. The fourth and final change regards the careful application of gusset plates on bridges. Gusset plates’ weight capacity must be analyzed in order to provide a sufficient support for future bridges. In addition, construction workers and bridge designers must be educated on the importance of gusset plates in

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