Schmidt Wrote: Wow those are some impressive highway infrastructure projects in the mountains. Do you know what countries? I don't think we have anything like those in the USA, and Colorado has some of the highest mountains in the USA. No highways like those. Must have been very expensive, but I really admire the engineering.
Although both Europe and the United States have some very impressive highways and bridges, my vote for the most impressive bridges would go to the Chinese. They top the list of longest bridges at the link below, and their longest bridge is over 100 miles long!
I've been on the bridge that links mainland China to Honk Kong, and was VERY impressed - but it is a long ways from 100 miles long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_bridges
Our country has had a few bridge engineering disasters over the years (more prominently "galloping Gertie"), but when my home stare of Minnesota erected a new bridge over the Mississippi in my parent's home town of Hastings, I'm of the opinion that we have some pretty good engineers in our country too. The video posted below is amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ5qVMS
Here's the video of the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse:
https://www.google.com/search?q=galloping+gertie+bridge&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS834US834&oq=galloping+gertie+bridge&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l4.5407j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on
Cracked Lake Shore Drive bridge in Chicago, good thing inspectors found it, could have been a disaster. America's infrastructure is crumbling and I don't see any lawmakers passing or writing any bills to repair anything.
wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/structural-pro...
The elevated roads-bridges in the video are breathtaking.
Chet:
Overall, highway engineers have rated our bridges at "D". The I-35W collapse was blamed on a design flaw. They have also said it would cost over $4 trillion to fix all of our bridges.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=minnesota+bridge+collapses&&view=detail&mid=A44748981C653F0D2A46A44748981C653F0D2A46&rvsmid=DD5EEA72D9CA39B8E1D1DD5EEA72D9CA39B8E1D1&FORM=VDQVAP
that guy in AZ Wrote:Chet:Overall, highway engineers have rated our bridges at "D". The I-35W collapse was blamed on a design flaw. They have also said it would cost over $4 trillion to fix all of our bridges.https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=minnesota+bridge+collapses&&view=detail&mid=A44748981C653F0D2A46A44748981C653F0D2A46&rvsmid=DD5EEA72D9CA39B8E1D1DD5EEA72D9CA39B8E1D1&FORM=VDQVAP
I don't like the compression system where cables go through multiply concrete beams making monolithic structures. The quality control has too many variables. The Destin Fl Mid Bay Bridge used this method.
"The bridge was closed Tuesday after a routine FDOT inspection revealed problems with some post-tensioning tendons. The steel tendons are pre-stressed steel cables that reinforce the concrete bridge. Each span of the Mid-Bay Bridge has multiple tendons".
lonely bird:
A good example of the problem you mentioned is Flint, Michigan. The crisis actually dates back to 1967, when the city first decided to use water from the Flint river as an emergency backup source. The problem, though, is that all the water pipes in town are lead - and you know what happened eventually.
There is currently a project going on that will replace ALL of the lead pipes sometime this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis