Joined: 28 Nov 2007 Posts: 11277 Location: Bay Area
Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 6:09 pm Post subject:
A few year back a big rig hit a pylon on I80 in Oakland. The fire weakened the overpass to the point of collapse. This was in what's called the Mc Arthur maze, it's a major interchange in downtown Oakland close to the section of hwy that was collapsed in the earthquake.
My point is, structurally there was nothing wrong with the overpass until the truck hit it and subsequent fire.
Have we ever had anything like that here in SoCal?
Not collapse but I remember a tanker carrying flammable liquids broke down and overheated under a bridge. Driver ran out to escape the burning vehicle but couldn't move it away from the bridge because it was stuck in traffic. Eventually, the bridge had to be torn down and a new one rebuilt.
A few year back a big rig hit a pylon on I80 in Oakland. The fire weakened the overpass to the point of collapse. This was in what's called the Mc Arthur maze, it's a major interchange in downtown Oakland close to the section of hwy that was collapsed in the earthquake.
My point is, structurally there was nothing wrong with the overpass until the truck hit it and subsequent fire.
Right. This ticked off a stored neuron of the N. Calif collapse. I saw a segment about it on an epi of Modern Marvels about engineering snafus History Chan. Iirc, the company that rebuilt it got a spicy bonus for doing it in record time. According to an old newspage on it, the driver lost control because he was going too fast to safely navigate the section and bounced hard off of a guardrail leading to the overturn.
Have we ever had anything like that here in SoCal?
a part of the 10 fwy collapsing due to the 94 quake. But L.A. has more than enough fwy's and side streets. the ATL... not so much.
I drove that and the experience was miserable. 1:30 hours minimum during late morning rush hour. Sometimes much longer going home. Broke 3 hours at one point. That job was incredibly rushed, and the contractor got a huge bonus but later found out that it was a bit shoddy and had to do more retrofitting to the bridge.
And actually, I checked ATL. If I was them, and had to get to downtown Atlanta, I'd take MARTA (I've taken it myself there). Get to the local lightrail/subway station, and take it. It'll save a lot of time and hassle.
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