I need to know what happened ,why did the bridges fail ,I heard people phoned the city saying it was falling apart ,please explain what happened and why it was not avoided ? -
what happened to the bridges in Laval Que
- Thread starter temperance
- Start date
Yeah, now he can justify invading Canada to remove our "Bridges of Mass Destruction". I think those bridges had ties to al qaeda anyways.
On a more serious note, I can't give too much info on why they collapsed but apparently there is going to be a public inquiry so we should know soon Link . Also, they are checking other bridges in the area to make sure it doesn't happen again Link
This is what happens when your gov't keeps giving work to cheap & shady contractors. 2nd time this happens in the same city. 
This is what happens when your gov't keeps giving work to cheap & shady contractors. 2nd time this happens in the same city.
The overpass was more than 30 years old by all accounts. This is much more likely to be the result of poor inspection and maintenance practices than construction or design deficiencies.
There is an inquiry into the collapse. This will probably go on for a long time and nothing will get done.
Question:
Which academically educated group is concerned with the above statement?
Are they qualified to meet peoples needs, or do we have to accept death and maime plus costs?
Canadian Engineering is failing us; have all the good ones moved away to places where Creativity , Development and Research, Production of secondary Goods and Jobcreation is present?
While we sell our Raw Rersources at accelerated rates our Infrastructures crumble.
And we dare to restrict and eliminate Foreign Professionals naive enough to come to Canada to enter the workscene?
Oh Canada where Prof.Engineers a proud to wear Iron Rings to remind them of a collapsing bridge disaster of long ago and never to happen again!
Regards Nelk
Stuff it, Nelk! The level of qualification and professionalism among engineers in Canada is second to none in the world. Exposed structures such as bridges are not intended to be maintenance-free for their entire effective service life. Hundreds of bridges in Quebec are classified as 'structurally deficient'. This is not due to some kind of design defect, it is because of the lack of repair and maintenance on these structures. That is a function of politicians and bureacrats, not engineers.
Every day each person relies on the work of engineers everytime they cross a bridge or enter a building. How many collapses do we hear about attributable to engineering deficiencies? Once every few years.
Every day each person relies on the work of engineers everytime they cross a bridge or enter a building. How many collapses do we hear about attributable to engineering deficiencies? Once every few years.
This is a quote from an article in the Chronicle Herald:
"It's the second overpass that collapsed in the Laval area in the last six years.
In 2000, a man died when a section of overpass that had been under construction for six months collapsed and fell on the car he was riding in.
A coroner's report later concluded a construction company didn't properly secure the concrete beams, and accused the Provinces's construction industry of shoddy work and questionable corporate practices."
Shoddy work? That is an understatement, someone's palms must of been greased for such poor quality of construction to go un-noticed.
"It's the second overpass that collapsed in the Laval area in the last six years.
In 2000, a man died when a section of overpass that had been under construction for six months collapsed and fell on the car he was riding in.
A coroner's report later concluded a construction company didn't properly secure the concrete beams, and accused the Provinces's construction industry of shoddy work and questionable corporate practices."
Shoddy work? That is an understatement, someone's palms must of been greased for such poor quality of construction to go un-noticed.
Company that built that overpass in 2000 is now out of business. Also, their engineers were part of the blame for what happened. A few of them were fined (less than $5K) and one who claimed to be an 'engineer' - wasn't!! Nice, eh?
It makes my blood boil that Canada does not regulate the Construction Industry, watch two episodes of Holmes on Homes and you shake your head at the stupidity of some unlicensed trades and the licensed ones as well. The shoddy work is criminal. Any Tom Dick or Harry can open a Construction Company and claim to be experts, the governments at all levels stick their heads in their red tape and paper work and tisk tisk those who want to know why this industry isn't held Accountable. I hold a Trade Licence that I had to take an exam for, do an apprenticeship for five years supervised in order to get a Master's License. We need rules and laws in place so Innocents don't have to die for greedy blood sucking Contractors. They get caught closeup shop and start another Company at the grand cost of $69.00 dollars.
Best guess for why the bridges failed, in the absence of any real information, is corrosion. Bridges like that are built from prefabricated sections of prestressed concrete, which means ridged steel rods called rebar are embedded into the wet concrete and as it cures it puts tension on the rods. It's clear from the news photos that a whole section fell onto the roadway below, which suggests it wasn't the concrete that failed, it was the steel clips that hold the sections together. Those clips are normally what engineers describe as quite ductile, which means they can take quite a lot of stretching and deformation without failing. They have to be, because the sections will expand and contract, and the whole bridge will change shape slightly, with temperature changes. Corrosion, possibly due to roadway salting in winter and improperly maintained surface sealing, makes the steel lose its ductility, it'll become brittle, and fail suddenly and completely, instead of deforming elastically. Corrosion's not always easy to spot either. It won't necessarily be as obvious as surface rust, it could be eating away at the hidden surfaces of the clips while the visible parts look perfectly alright.
The recent failure wasn't an old bridge. The expected lifetime of a bridge like that is about 75 years; that bridge was about half that age, according to what I've heard on the news today.
The recent failure wasn't an old bridge. The expected lifetime of a bridge like that is about 75 years; that bridge was about half that age, according to what I've heard on the news today.