Miami
Bridge collapse: Six people were killed last week when a newly installed pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University in Miami, sending a 950-ton mass of concrete and metal crashing onto cars below. The “rapid-build” project, scheduled to open in 2019, was assembled in a matter of hours on the weekend before its collapse, using “accelerated bridge construction” techniques. The 174-foot main span was built offsite and then “swung” into place; in the days after, workers performed stress tests and tightened structural cables as traffic streamed below. Footage seemed to indicate that the bridge collapsed first at the north end—near where cracking had been spotted by a design engineer employed by project manager FIGG Bridge Group earlier that week. The engineer left a voicemail warning with Florida’s Department of Transportation, but his message wasn’t picked up until a day after the bridge collapsed.