Bridge collapse in Toledo

[MRC_Andrew]

Numerous outlets are reporting the Maumee Avenue bridge in Toledo collapsed onto the NS/Amtrak mainline around 2pm today. No injuries reported. Some news reports:
https://www.13abc.com/content/news/Maum ... 64691.html
http://www.wtol.com/2019/04/03/maumee-a ... ews-scene/
https://www.toledoblade.com/local/trans ... 0190403154

No word on when the railroad will be re-opened, and haven't seen reference to any detours in the meantime.

[northstar16]

I was just up there a week ago. I did see they were working on the bridge taking it down. Boy plenty of concrete there going to take a day or so to get that off the tracks then repairs may need to take place on the tracks.

[JoJames]

Tracks were opened five hours after the bridge collapse.

[northstar16]

Impressive!

[redcrumbox]

Looks like the collapse was planned to land on the rails. There are two cranes onsite and neither has the capacity to lift any part of the bridge deck. The one crane is to small and the other crane has a pile driver attached to the boom and is to far away from the collapsed deck.

[JCinSummerfield]

This collapse wasn't planned at all. The organization I work for has a shelter down in that neighborhood, and they went many days without their phones/internet because of this.

[redcrumbox]

While I'm certainly no expert, I can tell you this, all bridge demolitions are indeed planned. I have been around a few bridge demolitions in my time. 99% of the demolitions include the bridge landing on the ground. It doesn't matter if its water, an interstate highway or a rail line, the bridge is gonna come down, not go up. First you break up all the small stuff and eventually you are left with the bridge deck/beams. Then you knock them to the ground and break them up and haul it off. Its exactly what is being shown in the news video. Youtube has endless videos of bridge demolitions, and some have rail lines under them. I stand by my comment that the are two cranes onsite and neither one has the capacity to lift any part of the bridge deck shown in the news video. As to why the shelter had no internet, I wouldn't know. Could be some one forgot to locate the lines properly?

[DaveO]

While I'm certainly no expert, I can tell you this, all bridge demolitions are indeed planned. I have been around a few bridge demolitions in my time. 99% of the demolitions include the bridge landing on the ground. It doesn't matter if its water, an interstate highway or a rail line, the bridge is gonna come down, not go up. First you break up all the small stuff and eventually you are left with the bridge deck/beams. Then you knock them to the ground and break them up and haul it off. Its exactly what is being shown in the news video. Youtube has endless videos of bridge demolitions, and some have rail lines under them. I stand by my comment that the are two cranes onsite and neither one has the capacity to lift any part of the bridge deck shown in the news video. As to why the shelter had no internet, I wouldn't know. Could be some one forgot to locate the lines properly?

You need to read the articles. The bridge fell before the planned removal time. The tracks were active and it's fortunate a train wasn't passing through at the time the bridge collapsed unplanned.

[chapmaja]

While I'm certainly no expert, I can tell you this, all bridge demolitions are indeed planned. I have been around a few bridge demolitions in my time. 99% of the demolitions include the bridge landing on the ground. It doesn't matter if its water, an interstate highway or a rail line, the bridge is gonna come down, not go up. First you break up all the small stuff and eventually you are left with the bridge deck/beams. Then you knock them to the ground and break them up and haul it off. Its exactly what is being shown in the news video. Youtube has endless videos of bridge demolitions, and some have rail lines under them. I stand by my comment that the are two cranes onsite and neither one has the capacity to lift any part of the bridge deck shown in the news video. As to why the shelter had no internet, I wouldn't know. Could be some one forgot to locate the lines properly?

Yes they had planned to remove the bridge. No this did not happen at the time the bridge was supposed to come down. Part of the issue with bridge removal is the fact that the ROW's often carry cables that are used for things like telephone, internet and related services. These need to be relocated prior to the bridge being removed. In this case, when the bridge collapsed prior to the time it was supposed to come down, it is highly likely that the collapse tore out these cables, causing the disruptions of service.

As for you idea that all bridge demolitions are indeed planner. There are numerous cases where bridges have collapsed prior to the planned time, or without any planning for them to come down. Yes, this was planned, but no it was not planned to come down when it did. Had it been planned to come down when it came down the railroad would have had crews on site to oversee this, even if the plan was for the spans to be dropped onto the tracks.