Calling it a "bridge collapse" is perhaps slightly dramatic–that half of the bridge deck was already removed as part of the demolition, and it was really just one girder that collapsed while being removed. But I guess "girder buckles" doesn't have nearly the same hook...
2nd
Las Vegas Review-Journal story from 1/21/22:
”˜A rare accident’: Bridge collapse still being investigated...
The investigation into what exactly caused the girder to give out is still being carried out, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration gave NDOT the green light to restart the work on the bridge that began Monday.
...
“Some of these girders are upwards of 50 or 60 years old, so as they were taking it down in the controlled fashion, unfortunately this girder happened to fail near the center,” [Justin Hopkins, NDOT spokesman] said. “This is only because of the demolition. The fact that there was so much of the support structure taken down. We don’t think there’s any way this would have failed if it were not for the demolition that was already underway.”
...
Still a bit of a crazy situation though.
Also, this part of US 95/I-515 dates to the early 1980s–the freeway extension from downtown reached to the Charleston Blvd interchange (next exit south) by 1984. So unless there was some kind of reuse of girders from elsewhere (which seems very unlikely), the girders of the Eastern Ave overpass are likely closer to 40 years old than the 50-60 stated by the spokesman–which makes the situation all the more interesting as to why the girder might have failed.
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Topic: Bridge Collapse in Las Vegas US95 and Eastern (Read 1422 times)