THE FATALITIES FROM BRIDGE COLLAPSE In Miami could have been avoided if someone – anyone – had used a little common sense.
I know “Monday morning quarterbacking” often is not welcomed, but now that is all anyone can do. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are representing the Federal government. Florida’s Sen. Marco Rubio already claimed on Facebook that 1 cables that suspend the bridge had loosened and the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. " They were being tightened when it collapsed today." Rubio’s Facebook announcement failed to provide any attribution
Later, speaking at an all-network news conference2, Rubio said “We deserve to know and the public deserves to know and the families of those who have been hurt and who lost their lives deserve to know what went wrong,”
The newspaper USA Today parrots Rubio’s Facebook claim3 while the Miami Herald headlines Stress test may have contributed to collapse of FIU pedestrian bridge4
In addition to the NTSB, OSHA, state and local agencies’ spokespeople claim their agencies will be investigating.
Miami tv channel NBC65 reports that FDOT says the two companies (bridge designer Tallahassee's Figg Engineering and contractor, Miami’s Munilla Construction Management) were under contract with FIU and it was that team's responsibility to hire a firm to conduct an independent, secondary review.
The state identified the firm that's not FDOT pre-qualified as Louis Berger. Because the design of this bridge was unique, that's the reason the state said a secondary review was required. No reason was given why Louis Berger wasn't pre-qualified for this work. The firm does do other business with FDOT.
The primary inspection was being done by Bolton Perez and Associates of Miami. FDOT says they are what's called the CEI or Construction Engineering & Inspection team.
Hindsight won’t bring back the dead
No matter what caused the collapse, the deaths could easily have been avoided HAD A LITTLE COMMON SENSE BEEN APPLIED.
Tamiami Trail, a/k/a 8th Street, Calle Ocho, and U.S. 41, is a heavily-traveled road, both by locals and people living on Florida’s lower west coast. The bridge was built to prevent injuries or death to people going to and from Florida International University (FIU). Most of FIU’s students are commuters; apparently many lived on the south side of the bridge in the Miami suburb of Sweetwater.
No matter what was being done on or to the bridge, the Trail should have been closed until the work was completed.
But that interferes with traffic flow I can imagine government and contractors responding.
Now traffic will be disrupted for days.
Everyone connected to the bridge will have to spend more than a few days in court – and countless thousands for defense attorneys – as the victims or their survivors demand some type restitution.
The Miami New Times, an alternative paper in Miami, noted that Construction Firms Behind Collapsed FIU Bridge Faced Accusations of Unsafe Practices.6
Common sense: Close the road while a test or adjustments are made. Whenever possible, do the test or adjustments during low traffic periods, much as many highway projects are done.
There are ways to bypass the bridge site, albeit not necessarily convenient, but available.
Now those “bypass” options will be in effect for days rather than hours.
Simply because no one applied a little common sense.
Six people are dead and more bodies remain to be recovered as this is posted.
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/y7aqxu4a
2. http://tinyurl.com/y8o8wd2x
3. http://tinyurl.com/ycj3gzsn
4. http://tinyurl.com/yco8j83d
5. http://tinyurl.com/ya53qyjn
6. http://tinyurl.com/y9awrpxg
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