just 23 years ago this bridge was made, yesterday, it fell apart, and killed this young couple and their baby. Can the transportation dept pay attention to our crumbling infrastructure now?

above is the far side, and what it had looked like, notice the top half, which I will guess is the hip high wall to keep vehicles from driving off the bridge sideways... a K Rail is one term for it, Jersey Barrier is another

here you can make your own estimation how much of the bridge tumbled over onto the truck below, at 9.8 meters per second squared... about 1.5 seconds from the instant it parted ways with the bridge to crushing the passenger compartment of the truck.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3037982/Young-couple-baby-son-killed-chunk-CONCRETE-falls-Washington-state-bridge-crushes-pickup-truck.html

Daniel, an construction inspector (who knew one was reading myblog ?!?! ) offered his experience to comment:

I have to disagree with your headline implying that accident was due to structural deficiency.

This looks like it happened during construction of a new sidewalk which was on top of the overhang, adding 532lb +/- per linear ft of bridge (assuming 6' wide & 8" deep).

The contractor had kick braces and overhang forms in place, which is practice for placing fresh concrete.

It also looks like there is a saw cut down the edge of the deck along out side beam and no exposed reinforcement.

My guess is that the contractor expected the kick braces to hold everything up until the could complete the saw cut and crane lift the deck portion and Jersey barrier off the side in a couple of lifts.

To me -this looks like contractor negligence not a rotten bridge. The quoted sufficiency rating of 95.3 is a measure of how well the bridge services the road way, items such as alignment, no of lanes and clearance. The Structural Rating is the number everyone should be concerned about, rating of deterioration of structural members, deck, impact damage and erosion.

I do agree that our highway infrastucture needs a massive amount of attention but that is not what is at fault in this case. 

- by Be For

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50 years and a month after the march over the Selma bridge, a protest march shuts down the New Jersey Outerbridge as they troop from New York to Washington DC to get attention to the MarchToJustice

"We need the national spotlight and the international spotlight to be on criminal justice reform and police accountability and this march is basically meant to do that," said march organizer Tamika Mallory. "We're also going to Congress to ask them to act on legislation that we believe will help to deal with the crisis."

The Gathering For Justice organization in conjunction with Justice League NYC is sponsoring the March2Justice event.

The Port Authority closed the westbound lanes of the Outerbridge Crossing at 11 a.m. for the "March2Justice".

In a joint statement, Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, State Sen. Andrew Lanza, Assemblyman Joseph Borelli, Council Minority Leader Vincent Ignizio and Councilman Steven Matteo, all Republicans, condemned the march and blasted the Port Authority's decision to accommodate it. (Sucking up to and kissing the police union's ass for votes sounds like this:)
"We all support peoples' right to protest, but not at the expense of others who rely dearly on this bridge for transportation. Also like many of you, we fully support the work done by the NYPD and think it is wrong that some people are disparaging and generalizing so many of our best and brightest New Yorkers.
"That said, if this march does proceed, we are asking our neighbors to join us in paying as little attention as possible to it. The intention of many of these marchers is, and has always been, to get arrested and make a scene in front of the news cameras. The less attention we give, the better; and the sooner the march will head on its way to D.C."

(That traffic is much worse snarled by the marathon and Bike NY events wasn't mentioned by the politicians, they seem to not mention things that contradict their bloviating)


Staten Island politicians are upset that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not consult with them before approving a one-hour lane closure on the Outerbridge Crossing on Monday for demonstrators participating in a march to Washington to seek an end to racial injustice. According to the Port Authority, drivers traveling westbound on the Outerbridge Crossing towards New Jersey could experience a traffic hold for up to an hour beginning at 11 a.m.

One of the march's organizers responded that the borough's elected officials were more concerned with traffic than the July 17 death of Eric Garner in police custody.

JUSTICE LEAGUE NYC is coordinating efforts in and around NYC in response to the non-indictment of Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, by focusing efforts and communities in two areas –DIRECT AND PEACEFUL ACTION and the IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION of a LIST OF DEMANDS for REDRESS & ACCOUNTABILITY.

http://7online.com/traffic/protest-march-to-shut-down-westbound-lanes-of-outerbridge-crossing/655137/
http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2015/04/staten_island_politicians_angr.html

- by Be For

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