Miami pedestrian bridge collapse

[California]

The bridge was probably a signature gateway for the college and state was planning to widen the road

I read the crossing went to a low-density neighborhood that was being bought up by developers to build a planned high rise, high density 'university village' community with more expensive (more profitable) apartments and student housing. I suspect lobbying by the developers got the bridge into the state transportation budget.

While this design is proving to be ridiculous, some sort of bridge is needed there for the increased pedestrian traffic that the new development will cause. It's a principal boulevard and a state highway.

You can expect half the students will cross the street, or bridge, with their noses in their phones oblivious to their surroundings. So there is a real traffic safety need for an overhead crossing. Hopefully a simple and proven design.

 

[Redlands Okie]

I read the crossing went to a low-density neighborhood that was being bought up by developers to build a planned high rise, high density 'university village' community with more expensive (more profitable) apartments and student housing. I suspect lobbying by the developers got the bridge into the state transportation budget.

While this design is proving to be ridiculous, some sort of bridge is needed there for the increased pedestrian traffic that the new development will cause. It's a principal boulevard and a state highway.

You can expect half the students will cross the street, or bridge, with their noses in their phones oblivious to their surroundings. So there is a real traffic safety need for an overhead crossing. Hopefully a simple and proven design.

A tunnel would have worked just fine, seen them in several places. Usually cheaper and not a traffic issue to install.

I suspect a police officers salary could be covered by citations to those who cannot follow directions. I am in a college town quite a bit and its beyond ridiculous on the lack of enforcement of pedestrians and bicycle operators following the rules.

 

[MossRoad]

A tunnel would have worked just fine, seen them in several places. Usually cheaper and not a traffic issue to install.

I suspect a police officers salary could be covered by citations to those who cannot follow directions. I am in a college town quite a bit and its beyond ridiculous on the lack of enforcement.

A tunnel in Miami? It's only a couple feet above sea level.

 

[Redlands Okie]

A tunnel in Miami? It's only a couple feet above sea level.

Hmm. Probably correct on that location. Good point.

Miami-Dade Water Table Map * Submerging the Sunshine: Explore Sea Level Rise in South Florida

 

[prichard]

A tunnel in Miami is probably not a great idea. Most of the city is close to sea level, they get hurricane flooding and they have a very high water table. Most of Florida you can quickly dig down to ground water with a shovel.

 

[dragoneggs]

Pedestrian tunnels, shopping malls are prevalent in Singapore. Due to the limited space and population density, they make excellent use of commercial space vertically, above and below sea level. Because of the high chance of flooding during seasonal storms, many of the pedestrian entrances to underground walkways, subways, shopping, etc. are actually elevated by three feet or so. Meaning you have to go up steps before descending down escalators, etc.

 

[California]

I think a tunnel wasn't considered for Miami because of risk of students getting mugged in it.

 

[Shield Arc]

I worked in the Pioneer Square Station of the Metro Tunnel under 3rd avenue in Seattle. We put over a million tons of falsework iron in that station.

 

[crazyal]

I actually think the concept was a great idea. We build houses off site to save time and costs. Around here the state just put in several "prefabbed" bridges. The cement beams were cast off site and a crane placed them. The roadway decking sections were somewhere around 8 to 10 feet wide and just bolted down to the beams. The end result was the removal of the old bridge and installation of the new one in under a year plus, other than pouring the abutments, all of the work could be done during the winter months. Around here usually in mid December things come to a halt and don't start back up until April.

If you go back to my earlier post what I said was that what usually happens is a change. That change doesn't get the full testing. In this case the DOT change in Oct 2016. That would of meant about 14 months to review the change, test the new design, and build it. That seams like a pretty short period of time. I wonder if the contractor started building the bridge before the DOT changed the design. If so it would of left two options, modify the existing bridge or start over adding extra costs which most likely they didn't have the funds for.

 

[medic0648]

As far as college kids paying attention, I have been working on a college campus for the last year, and have watched the kids walk into the side of trucks pulling into the job site, and even fences surrounding the site. Not all of them were on their phones.