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Frequency of Bridge Collapses, USA The report stated the estimated annual frequency of bridge collapse in United States is 87–222 collapses/year, with an expected value (under performance measure) equal to128 per year. This is an estimate using historical data and extrapolation, which points to continued risks due to aging infrastructure.
Causes of Bridge Failures
Safety of Bridges: In an unrealted safety story, a large number of many U.S. bridges are getting older and unsafe by today’s standards with too high percentage classified as “fracture critical”, meaning collapse could happen if one single component fails Today, there are about 17,468 of these bridges out of a total of approximately 615000total national inventory12.
Enviromental issues: As weather events become worse, it causes bridge materials and structural components to fail. Climate change is also doing its part in weakening the structural integrity of bridges making them more susceptible to damage due floods, landslides etcetera.24
Human Factors: The failure of many bridges has been attributed historically to collisions with vehicles, especially large ships. For example, recent events such as the collapse of an entire bridge in Baltimore are a case in point — but this time resources included casualty count herniation ware13.
Background and Recent Incidents
From the collapse of bridges resulting in disasters that changed safety regulations and public awareness, a history of which is given some examples below.
The collapse of the Point Pleasant Bridge in 1967 took inside and out stricter survey norms following 46 passings.
The 2007 collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge exposed dangers from structural deficiencies and triggered national scrutiny on bridge safety34.
Future Considerations
There should be a desire from the public entities to reduce future bridge collapses in numbers by:
Implementation of better inspection protocols and maintenance strategies that considers both ageing affects as well environmental influences.
Resilient infrastructure that applies modern engineering practices to withstand extreme events
More money for infrastructure repair and replacement projects described in the latest federal initiatives
While the predicted annual failure rate only tells part of the story, it is a clarion call to expanded assessments and proactive actions to secure public safety in an aging infrastructure.
