Roads that you have been on before disaster

[Big John]

On the I-5 Skagit bridge a few times.

[Dough4872]

Not really a major disaster, but I was on the I-495 bridge over Christina River in Wilmington, DE the day before it was closed due to tilting support columns in 2014. In addition, I've been on the section of I-95 in Philly that collapsed in 2023 numerous times.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I went over the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy in 2010.

[cwf1701]

2 i can think of:

1) the 9 Mile Road bridge over I-75 in Oakland County before the tanker truck fire in 2009.
2) The Key Bridge back in 1982, when the approaches was only 2 lane to the bridge

[cockroachking]

Besides the common answers of Key Bridge and I-95 North Philly incidents, the only other ones I can think of are NY-218 and the NY-28N bridge over Fishing Brook before they washed out over this past summer.

[dlsterner]

What roads/bridges have you been on that no longer exist due to a disaster/collapse? For me, the only one I can think of is I-95 in Philly before the collapse. I've never been on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, but I'm sure many have.

Been over the Francis Scott Key bridge many a time.  I liked it as an alternative between my house in central Maryland and heading NW of Baltimore on I-95, especially at times when the tunnels might have heavy traffic.  (this was in the days before you could see traffic on Google Maps).

Also have crossed the I-95 bridge in Philadelphia once, about six months before its collapse.  Forgot about that one.

I did remember another bridge, although far less known than the others.  The bridge over the Conestoga River south of Lancaster, PA carrying southbound US 222/PA 272.  As a kid, had been over that bridge many a time before it was washed away by Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and replaced with a plain concrete bridge.

[cwf1701]

The only other bridge i was on before a disaster was the I-94/Middlebelt road bridge before August 1987. While the Bridge was not destroyed in the crash of Northwest 255, the bridge took some minor damage from the crash and was replaced during reconstruction of the ramps around Metro Airport in the 90s.

[triplemultiplex]

Drove down some roads in Hawaii a few years before they were buried in lava in 2018.  Only one has been rebuilt since then.

[jmacswimmer]

Key Bridge & I-95 Philly like several others have mentioned. One I haven't seen mentioned yet, though it didn't turn out to be a huge disaster, is I-10 near DTLA - I was on that stretch about 3 weeks before the pallet fire that closed it for a little over a week.

[LilianaUwU]

I have been on infrastructure in Québec, yes.

[jp the roadgeek]

Key Bridge
I-95 Northeast Philly
Mianus River Bridge (as a young passenger prior to collapse; driver after)
Scoharie Creek on NY Thruway(after as passenger)
I-95 in Bridgeport, CT before tanker truck fire

[YLroadfan]

I-5 at CA-14 Interchange before the 1994 Northridge Quake.

On February 9, 1971 my brother-in-law was traveling southbound on I-5, on his way home from a construction job in Northern California. As the Sylmar earthquake rumbled beneath his truck, he saw portions of the Newhall Pass interchange collapse in his rear-view mirror.

[Jim]

On February 9, 1971 my brother-in-law was traveling southbound on I-5, on his way home from a construction job in Northern California. As the Sylmar earthquake rumbled beneath his truck, he saw portions of the Newhall Pass interchange collapse in his rear-view mirror.

Wins the topic.

[SSOWorld]

On February 9, 1971 my brother-in-law was traveling southbound on I-5, on his way home from a construction job in Northern California. As the Sylmar earthquake rumbled beneath his truck, he saw portions of the Newhall Pass interchange collapse in his rear-view mirror.

Wins the topic.

it does

I did drive the key bridge and I-95 north of Philly in 21.  I drove the old I-35W bridge a few times as well.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

Numerous times on the I-10 twin span bridges over Lake Pontchartrain that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

[amroad17]

Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1977, I-35W Bridge two days before it collapsed, Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2005, I-85 in Atlanta in 2004, I-88 in 1987 (where the culverts and road collapsed during the 2006 flood).

[Road Hog]

When I was a kid there were twin truss bridges crossing separate portions of Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas on AR 16.They were as signature a set of bridges as a small community could have.

In 1984 the northern truss bridge was destroyed by a tornado. I was a passenger as a kid a number of times on that bridge. I was disappointed by the conventional bridge that replaced it.

[GaryV]

^ Reminds me. I walked across Kinzua Bridge in PA before it got knocked down by a tornado.

[Scott5114]

Anyone who's clinched US-177 (as I have) can count that, since it's the main drag through Sulphur, OK, which got tornadoed a week or so ago.

[Mr_Northside]

^ Reminds me. I walked across Kinzua Bridge in PA before it got knocked down by a tornado.

I also have crossed that bridge a handful of times before the tornado (I think the last time was about 3 years before said tornado)
Have been meaning to go back since to see it in person, but just haven't.

[LilianaUwU]

I have been on infrastructure in Québec, yes.

With that said, I've been on QC 199 thousands of times, and that highway has been hit quite hard over the years by many storms, including Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

[SSR_317]

I lived in Hayward, CA when the quake hit the Bay Area in October 1989, and lived in Alameda before that, so I was on the Cypress Viaduct (CA 17, then I-880) a fair amount before that thing came down in the quake.  Also the old Embarcadero Freeway in S.F. (didn't actually collapse in the quake but was damaged to the point it had to be closed, and never reopened before being torn down).

When I was first driving, Carquinez Scenic Drive (briefly US 40 way back when) between Martinez and Port Costa was still open to vehicular traffic, so I drove that once or twice.  Not quite a "disaster" but it closed due to landslides around 1982 and was never reopened.  It's now a multi-use recreational path within an East Bay regional park.

I was visiting a friend in Hayward during the Loma Prieta earthquake. The Saturday before the Tuesday temblor, she took me up to Napa Valley for a winery tour, and we took a route that had us nearing the MacArthur Maze, where we got stuck in the wrong lane and ended up heading for the Bay Bridge rather than north on 80/580 toward Napa. So we bailed at the exit prior to the toll plaza, crossed the old Oakland Army Base, and rejoined the freeway on the lower deck of the I-880 Nimitz Freeway. I recall at the time thinking how I would not like to be stuck on that double-deck structure during a quake (premonition, perhaps?), though the particular section we traversed did survive a little over 3 days later. The major collapse occurred a little further to the south, along Cyprus Street (now Mandela Parkway).

During the event three days later, I had been sightseeing in the City, while my friend was working her job at Oracle in Redwood City. On the way back to Hayward, I stopped in Berkeley to see the UC campus (I grew up during the 1960s and remember all the student protests there). Though the BART train I took got delayed due to the breakdown of another one, I managed to make it back to Hayward to catch the bus back up the hill to her condo on Hayward Boulavard (just behind what was then still called Cal State - Hayward) before the quake hit and the World Series game was scheduled to begin. She wasn't as lucky, as she was on the San Mateo Bridge when the temblor struck.

But being a native Californian, she initially took it all in stride, even stopping to pick up some Italian take-out for our dinner after getting off the bridge! When she made it home, I was relieved and we proceeded to break out some wine, had our meal, and watched the local TV coverage of the disaster we were living through. After she saw what happened to the Cyprus viaduct and the east span of the Bay Bridge, she was understandably upset and very thankful that she made it home unscathed. I too was thankful, as earlier in the day I had been in the Marina District, transferring on Muni on my way to the Golden Gate Bridge (which I walked across all the way to the vista point in Marin County). I quickly realized I could've been stuck dozens of miles away from my friend's abode there in Hayward with no way to get back, and (in a mostly pre-cell phone era) with no way to easily communicate with her. All in all, we were both very lucky!