https://www.miamiherald.com/news/lo Four years after fatal collapse, Florida unveils design for 3

[kevinsnn]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/lo...7412.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io

 

[hokie66]

Or perhaps just a cheap rendering, with actual design to follow?

 

[WinelandV]

Or perhaps just a cheap rendering, with actual design to follow?

Pretty sure that's how they ended up with the concrete truss the last time.

 

[epoxybot]

The premise for funding the original bridge used a traffic study developed by T. Y. Lin Intl. At the time, there was commentary that the pedestrian traffic conditions forecast by T. Y. Lin Intl. were exaggerated. The kicker was that FIU was building a health & wellness center on the opposite corner and low-income residents of Sweetwater, (think of the children), would be accessing the health center.

The collapse of the bridge did not halt development of the building on the SE corner but the health center doesn't seem to have come to fruition. The building is occupied by the biotechnology firm named, Curative. It kind of makes one wonder how committed to the 'Health & Wellness Center' FIU was.

The bridge will now really only serve students in housing in Sweetwater. Save for developers and their designs on acquiring Sweetwater property for development of student housing, their isn't any greater "public interest" for building this bridge. Florida DOT should not be building anything more than a boilerplate pedestrian overpass. If FIU wants a 'Signature" bridge, they should pay for the difference.

I think I read that FIU was on the hook for the original $14+ million.

 

[spsalso]

Let's assume you're the average college student. You are faced with a decision: should I cross the street and risk death, or should I climb three flights up and three flights down and take longer to get to class so as to avoid the risk?

Death, hear me roar!

spsalso

 

[AusG]

I'm assuming it's all ramped to allow skateboarding from apartment to class with only a few short flights to do stunts across.

 

[LittleInch]

"should I climb three flights up and three flights down"

I thought the original had an escalator and a lift(elevator) for those of limited mobility?

Also it has a roof on so you can keep cool / dry as required.

However from this photo you might be right about the skateboard.
The only evidence that anything happened here is the one remaining stump. The one on the other side seems to have been demolished.
No plaque, no remembrance stone, just some graffiti.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[thebard3]

I think in many cases that cable stays are mostly about aesthetics (function follows form).
A bridge in my area-

http://www.franklincountyengineer.org/lane-avenue-bridge-story/

Originally a concrete span across an un-navigable river. The cable stay design was entirely unnecessary. It's close to the OSU football stadium though, so cost was of no cosideration.


Brad Waybright

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

 

[hokie66]

Cable stayed bridges are often the most economical solutions, and indeed they are interesting.

 

[spsalso]

On the Lane Avenue bridge, it appears the cables actually hold up the bridge--definitely a nice touch.

The flying buttresses are interesting. I've GOT to assume they're only decorative; I'd love to be proven wrong.


spsalso

 

[hokie66]

The architectural design of that Miami footbridge, as well as falling down, did a great disservice to cable stayed bridge design. Now when people look at a cable stayed bridge, they question the honesty of the cables.

 

[spsalso]

And why shouldn't they?

Apparently, many of them are just horse exhaust. Completely unnecessary. Decoration.


They SHOULD question the honesty of the cables.


By the way, since there were no cable stays installed at the time of the bridge collapse, it is extremely unlikely that your average citizen is going to leap to questioning the "honesty of the cables".


spsalso

 

[hokie66]

Got any examples of that? When someone says 'Apparently,', I know they are shooting from the hip.

Before this collapse, I had never heard of a bridge with 'faux' cable stays.

 

[LittleInch]

Heres one

https://www.johnweeks.com/cablestay/pages/sec07.html

There might not be too many more tbh

I do like cable stayed bridges, especially the non symetrical ones.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[hokie66]

Well, now I have heard of one. So the towers and diagonals are just sculpture, not stays at all. And not very appealing at that.

The only bridge that I can think of that looks more counterfeit is the Bolte Bridge in Melbourne, Australia.

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

 

[phamENG]

I don't know if I'd call the Lake Underhill bridge a fake cable stay...more like a causeway with a couple of cute little cable stay sculptures at each end. They're laughably small and not even on the bridge.

And hokie...it doesn't look counterfeit. There are just a couple of inexplicable towers in the middle. At least they didn't string up fake cables.

 

[spsalso]

The Bolte towers aren't inexplicable. They're needed to hold up the little red lights that show in the night photo.


Not cable stays, but I pointed out counterfeit members on a bridge in a recent topic here in the Bridge Engineering forum:

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=491710

There were some who had a real hard time believing it.

spsalso

 

[LittleInch]

I'm surprised on the bolte bridge they didn't string a platform between the two (glass floor panel in the middle?) and do climbs up inside the towers, across and back down again.

Sydney harbour bridge walks up to the top makes a tidy profit...

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[NOLAscience]

Let's assume you're the average college student. You are faced with a decision: should I cross the street and risk death, or should I climb three flights up and three flights down and take longer to get to class so as to avoid the risk?

I've seed designs where a flimsy fence or wall was installed so that a student would have to walk 100 ft or so on either side of the intersection to cross, and then they'd be in the middle of the block, without the light and crossing signals. I can't remember where I walked that sort of design, but I remember it.

Those fake cable stays look like a toy. Insulting to the general public and to engineers in the community.

And, even when following the signals, there were still some injuries or near-misses at that intersection, and foot traffic was projected to increase. Don't blame the students; blame the drivers!

 

[spsalso]

I'll blame 'em both. I frequently see college students whose mothers apparently never taught them how to cross the street.

Yes, you were legally in the right; and it was the driver's fault. Now you're dead. Me, I'd rather stay alive and yell at the idiot.


spsalso

 

[Settingsun]

Pedestrian overbridges are often about traffic flow but you wouldn't know that unless you were in on the feasibility study. The roads agency locks that away and sells it as being for the benefit of pedestrians. They don't want to admit they ignore pedestrians unless they're bothering the cars.

(Australia anyway)