Autoblog

New Vancouver bridge closed because design causes "ice bombs" to rain down on cars [w/video]

Jeffrey N. Ross — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 10:58:00 EST

Spanning 10 lanes of traffic, the Port Mann Bridge (shown in the rendering above) just outside of Vancouver, Canada is currently the widest bridge in the world. Unfortunately, it might also hold a new record for the shortest period of time a new bridge has remained open.

The cable-stayed bridge just opened to full traffic earlier this month, but on Wednesday it was shut down due to massive chunks of ice falling from the cables and striking vehicles, which sent at least two people to the hospital. According to CBC News, the bridge has since reopened to traffic, but apparently nothing has been done about the falling ice as the Vancouver area is slammed with a severe winter storm.

Construction of the bridge began back in 2009 at a cost of more than $3 billion, but it isn't clear if any changes are needed to prevent this sort of damage from happening in the future. Images of vehicles posted on The Province show damage that ranges from shattered windows and windshields to some pretty intense body damage. Scroll down to watch a news report from CBC News as well as a time-lapse video of the bridge's construction from August 2009 through January 2012.

Continue reading New Vancouver bridge closed because design causes "ice bombs" to rain down on cars [w/video]

New Vancouver bridge closed because design causes "ice bombs" to rain down on cars [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 22 Dec 2012 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Cheese: Kraft pushing for 97,000-pound "bridge wrecker" trucks

Jeff Sabatini — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:01:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

Kraft Foods wants to bring you more Velveeta, more efficiently. According to Bloomberg, the food giant says it needs to pack its 97,000-pound trucks full of processed deliciousness in order to combat high diesel prices. Problem is, interstate highways have an 80,000-pound weight limit.

But Kraft (along with other big corporations like Home Depot, MillerCoors, and Archer-Daniels-Midland) thinks it can get the law changed. Congress just extended a one-year pilot program to allow 100,000-pound trucks on interstates in Maine and Vermont for an additional 20 years, and a new bill would let every state decide whether they would allow the heavier trucks on their interstate highways.

Advocates of the "Safe and Efficient Transportation Act" say that the proposal is an economic necessity, and point out that states are already allowing heavier trucks to travel their secondary roads. But others have raised concerns about increased wear-and-tear on roads, and the questionable state of repair of the nation's interstate bridges, which were only designed for 80,000-pound trucks, according to the report.

There's also the potential for more highway fatalities. Though highway deaths have been on the decline, commercial truck-related deaths were up last year, according to the report. John Lannen, executive director of The Truck Safety Coalition, told Bloomberg that if the weight limits go up, "The entire country's motoring public will be put in grave danger."

Big Cheese: Kraft pushing for 97,000-pound "bridge wrecker" trucks originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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71 drivers cross a defective bridge every second... in Chicago [w/video]

Zach Bowman — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:45:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety

A new study conducted by Transportation for America has discovered that approximately 70,000 bridges in the United States are structurally deficient, meaning that an engineer has identified a significant defect in the structure's support or decking. That's a large number, but perhaps more shocking is the fact that the study indicates that every second, 71 drivers in Chicago drive over one of those derelict crossings. The study found that approximately 10 percent of the city's bridges are in need of significant repair, which equates to around 400 structurally deficient bridges all together.

According to Gideon Blustein, executive director of the Infrastructure Council at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Chicago may be in danger of losing its reputation as a hub of transportation unless the government invests in its aging infrastructure.

Transportation for America says that to catch up on the nation's back log of repairs would cost approximately $70 billion. Now, here's where we're confused. Unemployment is at record levels and our nation is in desperate need of infrastructure repair. According to Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez, $1.25 billion spent on transportation generates approximately 35,000 jobs. Seems like a two-bird, one-stone scenario to us. Hit the jump for a quick video.

Continue reading 71 drivers cross a defective bridge every second... in Chicago [w/video]

71 drivers cross a defective bridge every second... in Chicago [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mexico paving Devil's Backbone, adding 63 tunnels and 32 bridges

Zach Bowman — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:32:00 EST

Civil engineers in Mexico are in the midst of an ambitious project to span the infamous Devil's Backbone. Until now, if you wanted to cross the twisted span of the Sierra Madre that separates Durango from the coastal city of Mazaltan, you had to either take an eight-hour detour that circumnavigated the mountains or risk life and limb by tackling the dirt road that snakes through drug country. When the project wraps up in 2012, drivers will be able to hop over the mountains in a mere two and a half hours.

To make it happen, workers will have to carve a total of 63 tunnels through some 11 miles of stone. They'll also have to raise 32 bridges, including one that will become the second highest span in the world. Work on the road officially kicked off in 2005, though crews just got started cutting their way through the Devil's Backbone last year. Workers have already begun digging the longest tunnel - a 1.6 mile behemoth.

Mexico has a lot riding on the road. The land between Durango and Mazaltan has been difficult to access in the past, and as a result, there have been few jobs. Most local citizens have turned to the drug trade for work in one aspect or another, and the area has become one of the country's largest producers of marijuana and opium. With the new highway in place, federal officials are hoping both tourism and industry will flow into the area and supplant drug-based jobs with higher-earning options.

[Source: USA Today | Image: Google Maps]

Mexico paving Devil's Backbone, adding 63 tunnels and 32 bridges originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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REPORT: More than 25% of US bridges are "structurally deficient or functionally obsolete"

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Safety

Here's some bad news for all of us: Over 150,000 bridges in the U.S. have been judged to be "structurally deficient or functionally obsolete." And get this, there are less than 598,000 bridges in America. That means 25.7% aren't in very good shape. It turns out that the state with the most structurally deficient or functionally obsolete (SD/FO) bridges is Texas, with 9,564 such bridges. However, Texas is ginormous - almost half the size of Alaska - and therefore has a lot of bridges, but the percentage of Texan SD/FO bridges is 19%. And that's significantly lower than the national average.

What state has the most SD/FO bridges? Betcha never would have guessed the District of Columbia. For one thing, it's not even a state! For another, you'd think being in such close proximity to all that Washingtonian largesse would be good for something. Turns out, not. Anyhow, 55% of the bridges in our nation's capital are going to fall down/fail sooner than later says The Better Roads Bridge Inventory survey.

The actual State with the highest percentage of bad bridges is Rhode Island with 53%. Pennsylvania takes second place honors with 39%. The really bad news, according to the frighteningly detailed article, is that all these numbers might be low.

[Source: Better Roads via The Car Connection | Image: Scott Olson/Getty]

REPORT: More than 25% of US bridges are "structurally deficient or functionally obsolete" originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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