PORTLAND, Ore. -- It's called accelerated or rapid bridge construction. The pedestrian bridge span in Miami was prebuilt and moved into place. And then within just a few days, the catastrophic collapse.
Engineers and transportation departments officials, including here in Oregon, will monitor the investigation into the cause.
“We're going to be watching very closely to find out exactly what happened in that situation down there,” said Don Hamilton, spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
ODOT has used rapid bridge construction successfully. The best example, a prefabbed span that went in to improve Highway 213 at I-205 in Oregon City. Installing it shut down traffic completely for a few days in 2012. But it didn't cause major traffic impacts lasting more than a year, if it were built in place.
“That saved a tremendous amount of time; it was a disruption for four days but the savings in time for the project and savings for congestion for the public in the long run were enormous,” said Hamilton.
And no problems, the bridge is doing great. For bridge builders the hope with more efficient methods, is that they too withstand the test of time.
