Another case study from RetainingWallExpert.com, this one for the failure of a 38-ft high geogrid-reinforced modular block MSE retaining wall. They note that the failure of the retaining wall follows their typical recipe, ‘Just Add Water’. The wall was reconstructed with most of the same blocks, but with better backfill and better attention to drainage and geogrid configuration. [Source: RetainingWallExpert.com. Image: RetainingWallExpert.com]
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Personal Reflections on I-35 Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis
On January 15, the National Transportation Safety Board released a safety recommendation letter report to the FHWA related to the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis Minnesota that claimed the lives of 13 people and injured 145. The safety recommendations are based on the findings of an interim report from the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center that some gusset plates, components of the steel trusses, were undersized (not thick enough). This deficiency was confirmed to be a flaw in the design and not construction-related based on review of the original drawings from the 1960s and inspection of the wreckage. Whether this was a calculation error or a drafting error will perhaps never be known as only portions of the original design calculations were located. But the point is that it was never caught by any reviewers.
When this event first happened back on August 1, I remember being very shaken up by it. After my initial sadness for the victims of the accident, my first thought as a geotechnical engineer was: “were the foundations at fault.†As more information came out, it quickly became evident that the failure did not have anything to do with the foundations but that it was related to the superstructure of the bridge. But this still was something that profoundly affected me. (Continues…)
Maccaferri wins International Ground Engineering Award
Lawmakers Step Up To Address Dangerous Dams
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
By: American Rivers
House Approves 200 Million Dollar Authorization to Fix or Remove Ticking Time Bombs
Contacts: Garrett Russo, American Rivers, (202) 423-9494; Laura Wildman, P.E.; American Rivers, (860) 913-3960
Washington, D.C.— Millions of Americans are living in the shadow of dangerous dams all across the country, but that may be about to change, thanks to quick action by the House of Representatives to pass the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act of 2007 (H.R 3224), sponsored by Representative John T. Salazar (D-CO). The bill, which authorizes 200 million dollars to help fix, or remove publicly owned dams all across the country, now heads to the Senate.