it has been quite some time. I hope you are well. No text blitzes lately either :)

Hello AJAshinoff,
Mine too!
Good to connect again.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Regards,
OA

That gets a well-earned rim shot.

The project selection was corrupt from the beginning: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattves...

The name quoted is incorrect: "ABC" is "accelerated bridge collapse".

If the brave department run by Sheriff Israel hadn't been distracted by this bridge disaster he could have prevented the earlier mass shooting at a school. Gun control is needed so this bridge collapse never happens again. The NRA did it. NRA's bloody hands are all over it.

Lol. Best answer!

Tough call, what I know is that nothing ever unfolds exactly as expected, but the broad strokes of the brush are astounding.

I have made a number of posts over the years asking what page of Atlas Shrugged we are on today.

Hope is nice, but it it not a firm foundation.

"This bridge was about collaboration and was about hope and determination," said FIU president Marc Rosenberg.

Maybe it should have been about quality, safety, and hard scientific principles. Just a thought.

Seeing all the free rebar is not encouraging.

"Accelerated Bridge Construction" - it does not have a good ring to it. Your common sense defenses go up immediately hearing this. Obviously, many things can be built in an "accelerated" way but when building a bridge speed is not the first quality measure that matters.

Remind me of Atlas Shrugged??? You've got to be kidding, my wife and I get reminded of Atlas Shrugged at least once a week or more. We feel barraged by foolish incompetence in all walks of American life. Most of it doesn't end up killing people though.

We call it the Ayn Rand effect. Not because she is a causative factor but because she identified the problem. Perhaps someone out there has a more appropriate name.

In any case we are very glad not to live in either California or Florida.

Too many unknowns at this point and speculation is probably the only thing less reliable than eyewitness accounts. With current laws and lawyer types it will be certain to that the most effort will be put toward how the blame can be shifted from reality to those with the least political favor and most money. It is always tragic when someone loses their life unexpectedly on what would seem an ordinary journey. The best way to prevent this is to discover the reality of the failure and adapt methods accordingly.

Obviously not. (They didn't design that bridge, I mean).
That it was being subjected to a stress test means that the people doing it were uncertain that it was safe. In which case, why the h__l didn't they warn people away, and warn them not to be under the place it was being tested?!
I could call those people in charge idiots, but that would be an insult to the intelligence of mentally retarded people.

Lowest bidder or political crony? Lowest competence, since insisting on quality would be seen as elitist.

I was thinking the same, or they used substandard concrete around the anchor points and that failed... hard to say with all the mangled remains.

It's quite dangerous to build a bridge over the top of an active freeway, and unlike rural areas - urban areas don't really have anywhere to divert traffic to, around, etc. Obviously, people are working up there - and something might fall on a car below.

If you have 40,000 cars per hour going by, you can't divert it through the parking lot adjacent.

That being said, these things require enormous hardware to be put in place at the attachment points to the abutments on either side- .. I have no idea if the case, but CalTrans sent back tons (literally) of bolts made in China destined for the Oakland Bay Bridge that were tested prior to use and did not meet design specification.

Another common problem in public works - the concrete suppliers will try and ship loads of non-spec concrete. Interstates require ultra high performance concrete for example that has enormous compressive strength, doesn't crack, reinforced by steel fibers, etc.. however it's very expensive. CalTrans will test each truck being delivered for example, and sometimes as many as half are sent back because lower grade non-compaction stuff was shipped. This isn't an "oops", it's an attempt at ripping off the taxpayer. You can see it when it "gets through" because the semi-truck lane will be chewed up - as the weight of the big rigs rips the top layer up and water, dry, cold, hot, and compression breaks it loose in pieces like a delimitation.

My bet / my two-cents.. Florida engineers didn't test the materials ahead of time, didn't test the hardware, and something failed.

I thought our generation (i'm 70) would be safe from the violence that would come from a deterioration of society...guessed wrong...a big reset is coming...they are pushing to take away guns...the 300 million guns will not be surrendered without a fight..

In the name of being safe, why not? It is after all the primary cause of plane crashes.

We will outlaw gravity next.

The construction company has extensive ties to politicians on both sides of the political aisle, particularly Republicans.

And cable ties.

That reminds me of the time in AS3 when Galt is discussing with other producers in someone's house around a fireplace about Galt going back into the world. Someone said it was too dangerous to go back out there.