Disaster FIU pedestrian bridge collapses, people trapped underneath - It was supposedly "installed" on Saturday. 6 injured atleast.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article205316174.html

The FIU pedestrian bridge across Southwest Eighth Street collapsed Thursday afternoon, trapping an unknown number of people and cars underneath.

The bridge was installed at Southwest 109th Avenue Saturday morning, intended eventually to provide pedestrian access across Tamiami Trail from FIU’s main campus to Sweetwater, where thousands of students live in off-campus housing or in FIU’s newer dorms.

Before Saturday’s installation, FIU said the method of overall installation significantly reduced the risk to workers, walkers, drivers and minimized traffic disruptions for construction.

#Breaking: Pedestrian bridge at @FIU collapses, people trapped underneath. Police on scene. @MiamiHerald

— Monique O. Madan (@MoniqueOMadan) March 15, 2018

THE FIU BRIDGE COLLAPSED OH MY GOD pic.twitter.com/JO7jfx5AoN

— Gabriela Collazo (@GabrielaRose12) March 15, 2018

FIU installs new pedestrian bridge over the Trail in a few hours


FIU installed a new pedestrian bridge over the perilous Tamiami Trail in a single morning, part of a project to provide students a safe crossing and directly connect its main campus to Sweetwater.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more is learned.

David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal
(OP's note: This isn't me, this is directly from the Miami Herald)


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...iami-dade/article205316174.html#storylink=cpy
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/1...international-university-bridge-collapse.html

At least six people were reportedly injured when a newly-built pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed Thursday, leaving several vehicles trapped underneath the sprawling wreckage.

The structure, called the "Instant Bridge," collapsed just before 2 p.m.

Miami police were told Miami-Dade Fire Rescue had recovered six people with injuries, Fox News confirmed.

Sweetwater Police Department told Fox News: "We're just trying to save lives."

my school finished putting up a bridge a few days ago and it literally just fell. my roommate and i heard it from our rooms and ran to the balcony pic.twitter.com/JOtoLuC3Qs

— (@Ialilulelo) March 15, 2018
The bridge, projected to be finished in early 2019, was set to link the university’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus, where an estimated 4,000 students live, according to the Miami Herald. The bridge was installed on Saturday, with many celebrating the new construction.
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UPDATE: 3:03 PM from Fox News
Several fatalities were reported after a newly-installed pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed Thursday, leaving several vehicles trapped underneath the sprawling wreckage.

Florida Highway Patrol confirmed to Fox News there were several fatalities after the structure, called the "Instant Bridge," collapsed just before 2 p.m. at the Miami-area university. No official number was released.

my school finished putting up a bridge a few days ago and it literally just fell. my roommate and i heard it from our rooms and ran to the balcony pic.twitter.com/JOtoLuC3Qs

— (@Ialilulelo) March 15, 2018
Miami police were told Miami-Dade Fire Rescue had recovered six people with injuries, Fox News confirmed.

Sweetwater Police Department told Fox News: "We're just trying to save lives."

A video showed several people being loaded into ambulances. Several doctors and nurses were also called to the scene to assist those injured.

The bridge, projected to be finished in early 2019, was set to link the university’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus, where an estimated 4,000 students live, according to the Miami Herald. The bridge, a $9.3 million project, was installed on Saturday, with many celebrating the new construction.

The university called it a “one-of its-kind pedestrian bridge” that “swings” into place.

“FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplishes our mission beautifully,” President Mark B. Rosenberg said, according to a tweet by FIU.

First-of-its-kind pedestrian bridge “swings” into place. “FIU is about building bridges and student safety. This project accomplishes our mission beautifully,” -President Mark B. Rosenberg. https://t.co/x8gPM9A4DG #worldsahead pic.twitter.com/mPEMeh2zmw

— FIU (@FIU) March 10, 2018
Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart tweeted: “Shocked and distraught by the horrific SW 8 Street bridge collapse. Praying for the victims, and for our first responders who are searching for survivors.”
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MCM (construction company that built the bridge, thanks It's HK-47) website went down right after this happened.
It's HK-47 said:
3e610a6becb77a385e776a1e394815a6.png

So a bridge was largely erected inside of a single day, and now the company, Miami's Munilla Construction Management, has ... Done something to their website, it seems like. I'm not tech-savvy enough to know what this error code means, but their website sure did vanish in a hurry. Isn't Miami's Munilla Construction Management one of the companies that the Pacific Construction Group (Chinese-owned construction company) wanted to get ahold of, awhile back?
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I found a Wayback Machine snapshot from March 7th, 2018, a few days BEFORE the bridge was put up.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180307005432/http://mcm-us.com/

tl;dr Unfinished/Rushed Bridge collapsed, I feel like a lawsuit is coming.
 
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From one of the news articles:

"The innovative installation method significantly reduced risks to workers, pedestrians and motorists and minimized traffic disruptions, FIU said."

Whoops.
 
Before Saturday’s installation, FIU said the method of overall installation significantly reduced the risk to workers, walkers, drivers and minimized traffic disruptions for construction.
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Haha are you sure?

Damnit, ninja’d
 
The bridge sounds like it was made with pre-cast concrete sections that are lifted in place, hence "installed".

If a concrete structure fails, it's usually because of some sort of failure in the steel used to reinforce the concrete.
 
Goofy Logic said:
If a concrete structure fails, it's usually because of some sort of failure in the steel used to reinforce the concrete.
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Yeah, It seems like the bridge just collapsed under it's own weight. Someone didn't do a good job building that bridge. I doubt it was a terrorist attack, but there's always a possibility of it.
 
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The bridge was really long and had no support in the middle. It also had no arch underneath to distribute weight or any kind of suspension.

The way it looks, the collapse was either due to shitty material as has been mentioned before in this thread or they just made a mistake when planning this bridge and made it too long.
 
H4nzn0 said:
Yeah, It seems like the bridge just collapsed under it's own weight. Someone didn't do a good job building that bridge. I doubt it was terrorist attack, but there's always a possibility of it.
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Because it is a suspended weight, there are a number of other variables that need to be considered in its collapse, like the composition and cure of the concrete and the wind load. I agree that the main part of the problem is in the design.

Concrete has the most strength when it is compressed, so if the underlying structure is compromised leaving the concrete under no preset load, it is going to break up.
 
Goofy Logic said:
The bridge sounds like it was made with pre-cast concrete sections that are lifted in place, hence "installed".

If a concrete structure fails, it's usually because of some sort of failure in the steel used to reinforce the concrete.
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Not entirely; it could be anything from the concrete mix, a failure at any one of the attachments, too much overall weight, or a shoddy foundation shifting.
 
3e610a6becb77a385e776a1e394815a6.png

So a bridge was largely erected inside of a single day, and now the company, Miami's Munilla Construction Management, has ... Done something to their website, it seems like. I'm not tech-savvy enough to know what this error code means, but their website sure did vanish in a hurry. Isn't Miami's Munilla Construction Management one of the companies that the Pacific Construction Group (Chinese-owned construction company) wanted to get ahold of, awhile back?
 
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It's HK-47 said:
3e610a6becb77a385e776a1e394815a6.png

So a bridge was largely erected inside of a single day, and now the company, Miami's Munilla Construction Management, has ... Done something to their website, it seems like. I'm not tech-savvy enough to know what this error code means, but their website sure did vanish in a hurry. Isn't Miami's Munilla Construction Management one of the companies that the Pacific Construction Group (Chinese-owned construction company) wanted to get ahold of, awhile back?
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Huh. MCM previously got in trouble for outdated and banned vehicles. The site didn't load at all.

https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/settlements/12024/mcm-construction-outdated-vehicles.html

Sacramento, CA: (May-23-08 )
California Attorney General Jerry Brown brought a lawsuit against MCM Construction, a bridge building firm, alleging that the company used banned portable diesel engines on state-funded projects. The suit claimed that the company failed to get the required permits for its operations and stated that some of the company's machines were so outdated, that they predated the current air pollution regulations. MCM Construction was also accused of damaging critical salmon spawning habitat while working at the Van Duzen River in Humboldt County. The suit, filed in Mendocino County, stated that local air quality agents found MCM operating diesel engines without the necessary permits.

As part of a settlement reached, the two sides resolved the dispute by entering into a settlement agreement, in which MCM Construction agreed to a $6 million payout with the California Attorney General. The deal stipulated that MCM pay $4 million in civil penalties, which will be split among state and local agencies. Another $2 million will be spent to upgrade its equipment and adopt an internal environmental auditing process.
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Also, I found a Wayback Machine snapshot from March 7th, 2018, a few days BEFORE the bridge was put up.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180307005432/http://mcm-us.com/
 
I wouldn't trust my life or safety (or anyone else's) to any building/structure constructed in only 6 hours. How did they not think this wouldn't be the result?
 
Going over the photos, it looks like there was a failure in the supports along with the missing center support; you can see the fittings where a support beam spanning the structure was supposed to be installed.
It's HK-47 said:
3e610a6becb77a385e776a1e394815a6.png

So a bridge was largely erected inside of a single day, and now the company, Miami's Munilla Construction Management, has ... Done something to their website, it seems like. I'm not tech-savvy enough to know what this error code means, but their website sure did vanish in a hurry. Isn't Miami's Munilla Construction Management one of the companies that the Pacific Construction Group (Chinese-owned construction company) wanted to get ahold of, awhile back?
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It's most likely PR panic. FIGG Bridge Group, the engineers on the project, have also taken down their site.

From what I've been looking at between the models and the actual construction, the center cable support that is supposed to span across the top of the structure wasn't installed. You can see the mounts for it, but it looks like this one component was meant to be the main structural support. I guess somewhere along the line, they assumed that the bridge would be able to free stand until the cable system was installed, which it obviously didn't.
 
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Racist Trash said:
Donald personally installed the bridge himself, next he is building the wall alone in three hours.
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And at no cost to the taxpayer. Barron used his high-level architectural skills to design the wall in Minecraft in a single afternoon.
 
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