3 years is a long time for an island where earthquakes and typhoons are common. Insane.
And especially a country where basic maintenance usually gets half-assedâŠ
The US isnât better. There is something like 40,000 bridges that are in danger of collapse due to age. And collapse has happened with large loss of life. Iâd say only 2 dead is not that bad.
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Not as bad as North Korea.
But, similarly, not particularly relevant.
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It seems very long. Especially with high humidity as well.
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Yeah, rusting is a major concern. You have to inspect more in a country like Taiwan with high humidity. Rusting is terrible for bridges.
From news reports ~ ââŠis the only steel single-arch bridge in Taiwan, the first bifurcated single-arch bridge in Asia, and one of only two in the world.â
Was never going to end well!
This type of bridge design comes with inherent risks, probably why there are only 2, actually 1, of them in the world.
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My wife saw a video of President Tsai saying the bridge collapsed due to a burning truck. Ha!
I thought it was a Tied Arch bridge, a tried and tested design, but you know what people are like, always want to change something and make it âUniqueâ.
Certainly looks like a variation on the tied arch, and certainly demonstrates the inherent issue of the lack of redundancy in a tied arch!
I do not expect the driver to make it, they are just extending his life signs to lessen the burden of what they have to pay his family.
And there are more bodies in the squashed fishing ships below. Most foreign laborers. There are 6 still missing.
EDIT:
Donât know why, but the experts called by the news channels are all close to pushing daisiesâŠat least 90 years old each.
As per any structure its up to the Designer/ Architect/ Engineer to build the redundancy in not leave it as a bare minimum. Modern designs have extra support at the tied end this one doesnât look to have that (but thatâs only looking at the photos). Even with redundancy without maintenance its useless.
Also without inspections we wouldnât know if this bridge was already relying on its back ups.
I have just watched the video on a bigger screen now Iâm home, it looks like the bridge failed when the force travailed back up the wires to the arch, the top connections gave out. The wires themselves look sheathed, i wouldnât be surprised if the inspection that happened 3 years ago did a visual inception of the covering and didnât bother to remove it to check the joints inside.
The way this bridge has been designed i canât see a safe way to do an inspection without closing the bridge, it wouldnât be a quick job either. i donât think abseiling is an option while removing covers and inspecting welds/ bolts.
I know itâs easy to point these things out with hindsight, but thatâs why you have a planning department within the government. (some one must have Passed this design before it was built)
Cost cutting can be deadly.
Other examples of such accidents before:
They were interviewing one of the Kaohsiung survivors on tvâŠfrom a wheelchair. Hurt can be very bad.
Last updates:
Minister of Transportation assures the public the port will go back to business tomorrow, as they will clear debris. A temporary route will be set and those who canât get home will get temporary accommodation.
Guy Tai-Ming has promised a generous donation for the Yilan government to help those affected.
And thatâs that.
It was fate.
welcome back!
where yah been?
Meanwhile: Pre election make work road construction continues without pause spending millions a week on digging up fairly new roads and paying the hard working people for their unimportant services.
I dont have any massive problem with corrupt spending of money here over anywhere else. But the money spent here on literally nothing could easily create world class infrastructure in taiwan. be it safety, efficiency, sustainability etc. Once its all fixed up nice and singapore like, they can still go back to digging holes in new roads and looking busy, no worries.
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So there are only two bridges using this design in the world, Taiwan and Seville (Spain). Guess which is the original? Scuttlebutt says the Spanish architect wanted to sue the Taiwan architect but in those lawless days of copyright infringement well, he did not get his due date in court. Who wants to bet that the Taiwanese guy did some changes to the design/did not have the expertise to pull the safety features right/cost cut to make it different enough.
So the Seville guy was not the âorange man bad â ? 
I hope the injured get better soon .
On the contrary, it is considered a safe and iconic bridge:
https://sevillapedia.wikanda.es/wiki/Puente_de_la_Barqueta_(Sevilla)