I will tell you this is one of the reasons I left engineering... I loved the work, but I couldn't stand the thought of a structure I designed having a failure and killing someone. to quote office space... it's always those mundane details. I was a good structural engineer. urrrg it's hard to look at.
Well, in defense of the structural engineers who built the Oklahoma bridge, it was a drunk barge captain that took out the pillar that actually caused the collapse.
Well that was the part that got to me most... in most engineering disasters, it's no the engineering design. Most of them involve the contractor making a design change at the site.
The walkway that collapsed at a hotel I think in Canada, the contractor decided to use bolts and nuts instead of welds.
The citicorp building in NYC, it was in emminante danger to collapse and it was because the contractor used bolts instead of welds.
Kicker is in those disasters... most of the time the engineer still loses his license.
Don't forget the Central Artery tunnel in Boston where the contractor took shortcuts and used substandard materials as well. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often given the number of contractors out there that just want to make as much money as they can.
Very sad thing.
My heart goes out to these people. You may think I am weird but sometimes when I am sitting on a bridge going to/from work, I go over two main ones, I have though about that happening. I also have a small fear of sitting still in tunnels and under overpasses. I am okay when I am moving but I really do not like sitting still in these conditions. Weird....
That is also one reason I NEVER understood going with the lowest bidder on ANY job.
Especially Military contracts.
I am unsure this type of thing is bind out but my point is why would you want a company that is going to use the cheapest labor and the cheapest materials and I doubt they really care about the job.
There has got to be a better way to get the job done cheaply but still with solid quality.
BTW Pittsburgh has the most bridges of any city in the world. For awhile we thought venice beats us but according to a book and research done ironically by a professor at the University where I work, he says we have more with this last count he did. The book is titled "The Bridges of Pittsburgh" by Bob Reagan. He is a GIS professional.
He also wrote a book on the steps of Pittsburgh which chronicles all the public steps we have all over the place to get to and from houses and neighborhoods up on hills.