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hvacthrowaway223 t1_iv3y27o wrote

Reply to comment by mtnsubieboi in At Kinzua Bridge. It stood up almost 100 Years until an F1 tornado downed it, that’s crazy. by [deleted]

Is 100 really old for a bridge?

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Bucks_Deleware t1_iv48502 wrote

It's pretty old yeah. Most overpasses are designed with an assumption of 50-75 hears of life. A suspension bridge like the Verrazano Narrows, Ben Franklin, or Golden Gate are designed to last forever (hence why they are so large and relatively overbuilt).

100 years is typical for a bridge, but one of this size may be actually be on the lower end.

The reason this bridge fell was because of an engineering choice regarding modifications to the anchor bolts at the base of the towers. Pretty interesting to look in to.

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mtnsubieboi t1_iv4l6a9 wrote

Basically what bucks said. Didn't help that before that the bridge had absolutely no maintenance done for a long time before its restoration. Was really just a whammy of unfortunate events that caused its collapse.

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