|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Confronting the Crisis
| Article
# : |
18737 |
|
|
Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
|
| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1991 |
5,912 Words |
| Author
: |
Samuel I. Schwartz and Clark W ieman
Samuel I. Schwartz, P.E., is a professional engineer who spent
19 years with the New York City Department of Transportation,
4 years as its chief engineer and first deputy commissioner.
He is currently the director of the Cooper Union
Infrastructure Institute in New York. Clark Wieman is a
research associate of the Cooper Union Infrastructure
Institute. |
On November 25, 1990, the Lake Washington floating bridge in Seattle, closed for repairs, sank during a storm. Though questionable reconstruction engineering was behind its collapse, the bridge had been shut down due to advanced corrosion.
On December 28, 1990, antiquated tracking and communication systems trapped 1,000 people in a smoke-filled Brooklyn subway tunnel, killing 2. Huge ventilation fans slated for installation 13 years earlier sat in an Ohio warehouse.
On January 3, 1991, the lower roadway of the Manhattan Bridge, one of the country's most famous spans, was closed permanently to trucks and to all vehicles on nights and weekends. Traffic congestion, already bad due to closed lanes on the other East River bridges, has been compounded.
On April 13, 1991, the Main Avenue Bridge in Cleveland closed due to the severe corrosion of its metal grid deck. For 52 years it stood as an important thoroughfare across the Cuyahoga River. Costly repair is now under way.
On April 26, 1991, the New York Times reported that Philadelphia's transit system, the nation's fourth largest, is on the verge of total shutdown, in the words of the system's chief operations officer. Widespread structural decay and tightening budgets have made it impossible for system engineers to keep up with hundreds of failing bridges, rusting elevated track supports, and crumbling concrete tunnels. A senior engineer has warned that station platforms and elevated tracks in the Market-Frankford line, the city's busiest, may soon collapse. The system is described as just one of many troubled transit systems from New York to San Francisco.
What may seem like a few bad months for American infrastructure is unfortunately not that unusual. It is more likely to become the norm.
The two-decade period after World War II was an exciting time in the United States. Like the push to build the great waterway bridges around the turn of the century, a major effort was made to offer private transportation (the automobile) to the masses. This allowed for unprecedented urban and suburban sprawl. A huge network of infrastructure was rapidly built, pursuing the vision of a mobile, spread-out society. Huge changes in where we lived and how we traveled were accomplished in a revolutionary amount of
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
