50th Anniversary of the Silver Bridge Collapse

[BrianP]

Dec 15th was the anniversary of the collapse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Bridge

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/HAR7101.aspx

[triplemultiplex]

I recall learning about this watching a documentary on the History Channel (back when they covered actual history instead of the trash that's on their now).
Fascinating case about building redundancy into a bridge and how one tiny flaw will bring down an entire fracture-critical structure.

[roadman]

I recall learning about this watching a documentary on the History Channel (back when they covered actual history instead of the trash that's on their now).
Fascinating case about building redundancy into a bridge and how one tiny flaw will bring down an entire fracture-critical structure.

Back before A&E ditched actual arts and entertainment for programming like exploiting people with mental health issues (Hoarders), they did a multi-part documentary called Collapse that covered, among other things, the Silver Bridge collapse and the NY Thruway Schoharie Creek collapse.  This program went into far more depth on both of those collapses than the History Channel's Modern Marvels eight minute segments - which were based on the same material (A&E and the History Channel are owned by the same company) - did.

[Jardine]

I'm old enough to remember when it happened.  Quite a shock for the country to learn about fatigue failures and such.  My recollection was the investigation results were slow to come out too. 

[roadman]

The NTSB reminds us to not blame the Mothman for the Silver Bridge collapse:

https://safetycompass.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/the-silver-bridge-collapse-dont-blame-the-mothman/

[SP Cook]

Actual story of the "mothman" :

If you look at the rest of Mason County, north of Point Pleasant, the Ohio River takes a bend, in the shape of an inverted U.  This area, while having rail and barge access, is, and more importantly, was in the 1930s and 40s, quite uninhabited and undeveloped, as was similar land across the Ohio.  It was also quite near the chemical factories of the Charleston region. 

The military, figuring this was far enough inland to avoid a German attack, and rural enough that not many would get killed/not much of value would be lost in case of an attack or an accident, used it to store explosives for the wars. 

To keep prying locals away, they circulated wild stories about a "mothman".  If you study WWII and WWI history, similar wild stories about monsters and boogie men were circulated, and often still exist, all up and down the inland area similar distances from the coast.  Sometimes these were combined, further south, with stories about the KKK or lost Indian tribes and such. 

The bunkers used to store the ammo eventually became state property and, until they had an explosion a few years ago, were for rent to individuals, mostly black powder hunters and fireworks wholesalers.