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Atlanta checking in (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_85_bridge_collapse), yes.

• jameskilton 9y ago
  I'm not sure if that situation is strictly relevant. We don't normally design bridges to withstand heat directly on the supporting structure of potentially a thousand degrees or more.
  • freehunter 9y ago
    I don't think it's that bridges need to be able to withstand that much heat, but that no one should ever be able to apply that much heat to it. If a pipeline runs under it and is able to be accessed by anyone, that inherently means the infrastructure is strongly vulnerable to attack and it just takes one person mere seconds to destroy everything. I'm not blaming the designers of the freeway though. My house has a giant plate glass window right next to my deadlocked front door. Our entire society is built around trusting that most people don't want to destroy the nice things we've collectively built. But if someone smashed my window and stole my TV, I'd probably make sure that window was a little more secure. Incremental improvements.
    • quadrangle 9y ago
      At least you aren't being stupid and weighing the window/door risks backwards leading to installing a double-keyed knob or deadbolt. That's the insanity that happens from poor risk analysis.
• delinka 9y ago
  Not really the kind of vulnerability the article discusses. Most every aspect of our infrastructure is vulnerable to maliciousness.
  • deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
• Shivetya 9y ago
  Most Georgia bridges have fifty years before rebuild or replacement. We had our 1000 year flood not to long ago and some were replaced quicker. It is not uncommon to be traveling country roads and come across a recently rebuilt or new bridge. Now this I85 debacle is purely in the camp of mismanagement and vandalism. The vandalism of course being that a person set a fire sufficient to ignite supposed non flammable building materials that should never have been stored under a bridge. Doubtful anyone in the State will suffer consequences due to sovereign immunity. What many of us who watched all this unfold is to find out exactly what was stored there and in what quantity. While not flammable doesn't mean it won't burn it should not have been this simple to ignite. Credit the contractors rebuilding the bridges, damn they are fast when they need to be. Of course another contractor managed to buckle the I20 interstate by filling pipes improperly
  • BatFastard 9y ago
    As some one who lives very close to the bridge in Atlanta, it is hard to believe how disruptive it has been. While I thought traffic in the past was bad, it recently took me an hour to go 1.5 miles. A trip that usually takes 10 minutes at most. People don't go to restaurants or out at all, anytime close to rush hour. I use to pop up to corner to grab a pizza, now it takes me 20 minutes just to get to the end of my street! Glad I can bike places.
  • dsfyu404ed 9y ago
    >damn they are fast when they need to be They are fast when the situation is dire enough that the politicians don't care what it costs and the NIMBYs and nit-pickers shut their mouths.
  • Symbiote 9y ago
    The UK had a similar fire, though the viaduct didn't collapse. I think the result was a reduction in what was permitted to be stored under bridges and viaducts, in common with a similar restriction that was already implemented on major railways. I can't find a source for that. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-16425491 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-16425491
• deelowe 9y ago
  Totally irrelevant unless you're going to argue the Oklahoma City building was also under engineered.