Single Point Failure law

[Ban my account ffs!]

I think this is a good idea... though IRL there have been standards for a long while now that prevent non redundant construction methods, at least when applied to bridges/infrastructure



It is believed that the "gusset plates", which are thin, rectangular sheets of steel bolted onto the joints where the pillars hold the bridge up were too small for the bridge design and were fatigued and showed signs of damage prior to the 35W bridge collapse in 2007.

The bridge design did not have redundancies so when one of the gusset plates failed under the load of slow moving rush hour traffic and loads of heavy construction equipment, the whole bridge failed catastrophically.

Luckily we haven't built bridges like this for a long time and new bridge designs nowadays have many redundancies.  In fact, the new bridge that replaced the collapsed bridge is one of the most high tech in the world with hundreds of sensors that constantly give readings on the bridge integrity.  Such smart bridges are increasingly cheaper to build and will give early warnings to engineers automatically the second any damage to the bridge is done.

[Ban my account ffs!]

I think this is a good idea... though IRL there have been standards for a long while now that prevent non redundant construction methods, at least when applied to bridges/infrastructure



It is believed that the "gusset plates", which are thin, rectangular sheets of steel bolted onto the joints where the pillars hold the bridge up were too small for the bridge design and were fatigued and showed signs of damage prior to the 35W bridge collapse in 2007.

The bridge design did not have redundancies so when one of the gusset plates failed under the load of slow moving rush hour traffic and loads of heavy construction equipment, the whole bridge failed catastrophically.

Luckily we haven't built bridges like this for a long time and new bridge designs nowadays have many redundancies.  In fact, the new bridge that replaced the collapsed bridge is one of the most high tech in the world with hundreds of sensors that constantly give readings on the bridge integrity.  Such smart bridges are increasingly cheaper to build and will give early warnings to engineers automatically the second any damage to the bridge is done.

No offence, but FAIL. There's another bridge right beside it.

A 3 lane bridge that empties onto city streets on both sides.  The 35W bridge was 8 lanes with large shoulders.  I believe the new one is 10 or 11 lanes.

[Ban my account ffs!]

My point was that the bridge collapsed because of a single point of failure... so to call it "FAIL" and then list a bunch of other bridges is kinda rude.

I know U.S. Highway 2 in the UP of Michigan is a "single point of failure" if the road is closed for whatever reason.  On our return bus trip from NYC to Minnesota in April 2002, rapid spring snow melt flooded the highway.  We had to take a 4 hour detour down into Wisconsin just to bypass a short strip of flooded highway.