I95 collapse Philadelphia

[bothar]

A section of Interstate 95 in Northeast Philadelphia collapsed around 6:30 AM Sunday morning after a large fire started under an overpass near Cottman Avenue. Officials indicated that a fuel tanker may have been the source of the fire, causing part of the northbound lanes to buckle. The southbound lanes also appear weakened by the blaze and could be structurally compromised.

[Bryn666]

Not the first time fuel fires have brought down structures in the USA.

Strategic traffic wise they can at least use I-295 and the NJTP to avoid Philly but this will wreak havoc with local traffic!

[WHBM]

In what must be just 24 hours, the complete collapsed bridge deck shown above has been broken up, removed, and the roadway under the remaining carriageway bridge cleared. Can you imagine that in Britain ?

I saw the same in Los Angeles in 1992, when the earthquake collapsed several freeway overpasses in the city in a very similar fashion. The replacement was built and in use within a month. Old Man C. C. Myers, whose firm achieved that, and comparable California projects, must be cheering the Pennsylvania team on.

[roadtester]

I’ve just been watching a report on this on CNN. Apparently the other, superficially intact, carriageway is also heavily damaged and will need to come down as well. Overall, the initial demolition bit is expected to take 4-5 days, and rebuilding ‘months’.

[Bendo]

In what must be just 24 hours, the complete collapsed bridge deck shown above has been broken up, removed, and the roadway under the remaining carriageway bridge cleared. Can you imagine that in Britain ?

No. Especially given there was at least one fatality. But I'd hope they do some learning and consider a better replacement given the curve and the lack of any fire protection for the steel.

Those dash cam videos are crazy, why anyone would think driving through that was a good idea is beyond me, lucky there wasn't more fatalities, when some of those clowns drove over the deck was already sagging significantly.

[M4Simon]

It was a major tanker fire that resulted in closure of the Pont Mathilde in Rouen, France in October 2012 for a couple of years while it was repaired. It says something for the design of the bridge and the French emergency services that the bridge did not collapse as a result of the fire.

Simon

[Bryn666]

In what must be just 24 hours, the complete collapsed bridge deck shown above has been broken up, removed, and the roadway under the remaining carriageway bridge cleared. Can you imagine that in Britain ?

I saw the same in Los Angeles in 1992, when the earthquake collapsed several freeway overpasses in the city in a very similar fashion. The replacement was built and in use within a month. Old Man C. C. Myers, whose firm achieved that, and comparable California projects, must be cheering the Pennsylvania team on.

Phila.JPG

If the structure was unsound and collapse likely then, yes. You know this. There were contingency plans to bring down Grenfell Tower if the fire had compromised its structural integrity.

[KeithW]

Not the first time fuel fires have brought down structures in the USA.

Strategic traffic wise they can at least use I-295 and the NJTP to avoid Philly but this will wreak havoc with local traffic!

Fuel fires can bring down just about any structure, reinforced concrete will spall and the rebar loses 20% of its strength once you get above 400 C and practically all of it at 800 C.

I saw the aftermath of the fire at the ICI refinery at North Tees. It left 200mm dia 12 mm thick steel pipes twisted like pretzels.

The Health and Safety Executive would rightly insist on the scene being recorded before anything was removed, knowing what happened and why is the first step toward preventing a recurrence. In the case of Flixborough it was a process engineer making a temporary fix aka Bodge without having the requisite experience and knowledge. That killed 28 people and injured another 36.

See this for whole sorry story.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/c ... 20ignition.

[KeithW]

I saw the same in Los Angeles in 1992, when the earthquake collapsed several freeway overpasses in the city in a very similar fashion. The replacement was built and in use within a month. Old Man C. C. Myers, whose firm achieved that, and comparable California projects, must be cheering the Pennsylvania team on.

Phila.JPG

The 1992 quake caused a number of collapses but because it happened at 4:30:55 AM casualties were relatively light. However other infrastructure including hospitals and apartment blocks suffered heavy damage. That said this is what was left of the Golden State Freeway.



In 1997 the Nimitz freeway in Oakland was rebuilt completely differently from the original and it took 9 years and cost $1.2 billion. The original design was ill thought out, in many cases the upper deck collapsed onto the lower deck killing those trapped in their cars.

Our office in Alameda was left unusable with oscillations clearly visible in the parking lot and the building twisted.

[Chris5156]

In what must be just 24 hours, the complete collapsed bridge deck shown above has been broken up, removed, and the roadway under the remaining carriageway bridge cleared. Can you imagine that in Britain ?

If the structure was unsound and collapse likely then, yes. You know this. There were contingency plans to bring down Grenfell Tower if the fire had compromised its structural integrity.

My immediate thought was the speed of the repairs to the coastal railway line in Devon when it was completely washed out by a storm a few years ago. The speed and ingenuity of the engineering work that put in a temporary sea wall to restore train services, and then to construct a permanent solution that would withstand greater forces than the original, was remarkable. We can absolutely do it if we put our minds to it.

[Bendo]

The latest update is here https://www.penndot.pa.gov/RegionalOffi ... tails.aspx

They plan to backfill the gap and surface to get traffic running again.

[Vierwielen]

Not the first time fuel fires have brought down structures in the USA.

Strategic traffic wise they can at least use I-295 and the NJTP to avoid Philly but this will wreak havoc with local traffic!

Fuel fires can bring down just about any structure, reinforced concrete will spall and the rebar loses 20% of its strength once you get above 400 C and practically all of it at 800 C.

I saw the aftermath of the fire at the ICI refinery at North Tees. It left 200mm dia 12 mm thick steel pipes twisted like pretzels.

The Health and Safety Executive would rightly insist on the scene being recorded before anything was removed, knowing what happened and why is the first step toward preventing a recurrence. In the case of Flixborough it was a process engineer making a temporary fix aka Bodge without having the requisite experience and knowledge. That killed 28 people and injured another 36.

See this for whole sorry story.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/sragtech/c ... 20ignition.

The collapse of the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attack was caused by fire weakening the reinforcing. made worse by by fuel spilling from the aircraft.

[Bendo]

Some lanes reopened following temporary repairs https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelp ... 30623.html

[KeithW]

The collapse of the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attack was caused by fire weakening the reinforcing. made worse by by fuel spilling from the aircraft.

As I recall while the fuel fire started the conflagration but what fed it was the office furniture and sheer volume of paper. As for the structure they used light weight trusses to carry the floors so as to have a completely open space. The trusses turned out not to have enough fireproofing. A smaller building with the same design that was NOT hit by the planes also collapsed after it caught fire from the collapsing debris.

The basic design was a structural outer wall and inner core linked with these trusses. Such a design would not be approved in the UK as what could and did happen was a progressive collapse. When the trusses holding the floors burned out and the floors collapsed they acted like a giant hammer rapidly collapsing the floors below bringing the whole building down.

In fact the only buildings in NYC that used such a structure were those in the WTC complex.

[Bryn666]

The collapse of the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attack was caused by fire weakening the reinforcing. made worse by by fuel spilling from the aircraft.

As I recall while the fuel fire started the conflagration but what fed it was the office furniture and sheer volume of paper. As for the structure they used light weight trusses to carry the floors so as to have a completely open space. The trusses turned out not to have enough fireproofing. A smaller building with the same design that was NOT hit by the planes also collapsed after it caught fire from the collapsing debris.

The basic design was a structural outer wall and inner core linked with these trusses. Such a design would not be approved in the UK as what could and did happen was a progressive collapse. When the trusses holding the floors burned out and the floors collapsed they acted like a giant hammer rapidly collapsing the floors below bringing the whole building down.

In fact the only buildings in NYC that used such a structure were those in the WTC complex.

The technology simply wasn't there for any other type of construction at the time to allow a 110 storey tower. The design was innovative and, being realistic, reasonable foresight would only suggest an accidental crash into a building of that size - who before 9/11 ever seriously envisioned anyone using civilian aircraft as missiles except for the most paranoid survivalist types? The notion was absurd, which is why the attacks were so successful.

Anyway, this isn't really relevant to the bridge which has reopened using an interesting fix of temporarily filling in the gap and laying a road on top whilst new deck and piers are built around it. Don't show National Highways, they'll be doing this to all the disused railway bridges they're responsible for.