Genoa bridge collapse

Italian Deputy PM showing his quality and using the disaster to tub thump his parties eurosceptic views and anti EU enforced spending limits before any proper investigation as to the root cause has taken place :rolleyes: Italian politics is even more sordid and undignified than ours.

Death toll up to 30 now :(
 
TheMightyTen said:
It puts into perspective the disruption caused on the M6 through Brum on the raised flyovers, especially Junction 6 (Spaghetti Junction) and the current disruption on the M5 junctions 1 and 2. If it wasn't for that work being done it could well have happened here, the concrete in the substructure was quite literally rotting away.

RIP to those that have lost their lives, a truly horrendous way to go :(
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It's a good point, i drive through that one regularly and i'm one that doesn't normally hold back when whining about how long the repair works etc take. But it's hopefully the extent of the repairs that they do, that prevent accidents like the one in Genoa.

I was talking to family members earlier, as we had a trip out to Italy a few years back along the Italian Riviera to Portofino and i'm pretty certain we would have crossed that bridge.
 
Apparently it was a prestressed concrete cable stayed bridge with the stressing tendons embedded in concrete. Built in the early sixties I believe. This is not a method that would be adopted nowadays as all stressing elements should be readily inspectable. It is usual for an entire tower to go down, usually deck sections are more at risk.

A lightening strike would usually be conducted safely to the ground and I am not aware of a failure mechanism involving lightening.

Most likely corrosion of stressing elements IMO.
 
nkata said:
A lightening strike would usually be conducted safely to the ground and I am not aware of a failure mechanism involving lightening.

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I can imagine that if the lightning got into the internal steelworks in the tower it could blow the concrete apart, especially if it was already old and crumbly and water had seeped along corroded rebar.
 
How much of Italy's construction industry is run by Mob affiliated unions? Mind you this is pretty far north of the major Mob areas, so maybe not.
 
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