Oh so mundane, and even more pointless, but if anyone wants to watch a highway bridge being replaced in the next 14 hours, here’s the link:
Pretty cool, camera refreshes every 30 secs.
Why is it being replaced?
Because it was built in the ,70s (I think), and it’s done it’s service life.
I’m not watching the webcast, I’m watching on live TV.
It is a nifty feat of engineering, though.
Because unlike their neighbor to the south, Canada actually invests in infrastructure maintenance.
It was chosen for an episode of Extreme Bridge Makeover.
This made me laugh out loud.
You clearly haven’t been hearing about the constant issues regarding the bridges and infrastructure in Québec, especially Montreal! Another bridge collapsed this week near Témiscouata, killing two people. The De La Concorde bridge collapse in Montreal in 2006 killed 5 people. A 1 metre wide hole just opened up in the Turcot interchange a couple of weeks ago, causing even more reduction of traffic flow through the area (most of the ramps are down to one lane) and there are dozens of bridges and overpasses (keep in mind that a large part of Montreal’s highway system is elevated) scheduled for demolition and rebuilding, with many more long overdue for repairs and currently having weight restrictions on them. I think there are something like 150 problem bridges, at least. Not to mention the potholes, frost heaves and other “normal” damage to roads in Québec which go unrepaired for years at a time, and then it’s done with poor construction techniques which can’t hold up against the severe winters we have here.
Spending money on infrastructure… very funny!
I do apologize, then. I hadn’t heard about those collapses.
No apology necessary; despite the sadness of the deaths due to these events, your comment really did make me laugh.
The whole thing just seems to be getting ridiculous and I took the opportunity to rant a little. I would NOT want to be part of the engineering team faced with coming up with a fix… or the guy that has to come up with the budget for it! The head engineer of the Turcot rebuild has got to be wondering why he ever thought building bridges could be fun…!
I saw a video a few months back about a bridge being swapped out within a few hours, again in Ontario. When it made the news, people here started talking, and the news was basically saying that Québec has dismissed this technology, despite the fact that it’s been proven to work, on the basis that it was too new or something. One analyst said that when it came to infrastructure/construction techniques, Québec is living in the past. No one quite knows how to deal with the fact that Montreal appears to be collapsing in on itself. I just hope we come out of the civil engineering dark ages without more people losing their lives.
This was probably Island Park Drive, also in Ottawa.
Enjoy this tiny fraction of the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge Retrofit project that got done during the Labor Day weekend last year.
http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/info/movies/bay_bridge_video_9-07.htm