Will Baltimore bridge collapse force U.S. to pay more attention to its infrastructure?

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is the latest example of a challenge to U.S. infrastructure amid a lack of funds and motivation to maintain aging bridges, experts say.

 

The Baltimore bridge "is an old and reliable piece of infrastructure, that under almost any reasonable circumstances would be standing in another 20 or 30 years,” says Joseph L. Schofer, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. “If you come along and pull out the primary support, there's no way to save the bridge.”

 

Though he has no reason to believe negligence was involved in the Baltimore collapse, Schofer says some infrastructure catastrophes are. He points to the Fern Hollow Bridge failure in Pittsburgh as an example: The National Transportation Safety Board concluded reports and recommendations to fix corroded steel supports went ignored, ultimately leading to the collapse of the 447-foot-long bridge, which dropped a bus and four cars to the park below.

 

Source from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/baltimore-bridge-collapse-aging-infrastructure