A part of the new publicly funded Busch Stadium in St. Louis fell off of the six-year-old stadium:
A day after a 100-pound piece of metal trim toppled from Busch Stadium, inspectors were busy looking at similar panels on the stadium to determine if they could fall, too — and what to do about them.
Ron Watermon, the Cardinals’ director of public relations and civic affairs, said the city sent an inspector to the stadium late Monday afternoon after a 2-foot-by-4-foot piece fell from the building, and a team of inspectors was back at the stadium this morning.
Is it just me, or does it seem like more civic engineering projects are falling apart lately?
- June 2010, O’Donnell Park parking garage:
Structural engineers from the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and the State of Wisconsin will return to the collapsed parking garage Friday morning at O’Donnell Park.
They will be there to determine why a portion of the garage on Lincoln Memorial Drive near the Summerfest grounds collapsed, killing a 15-year-old boy and injuring two others.
- August 1, 2007, I-35W:
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. During the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, it suddenly collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145.
- July 2006, Big Dig tunnel:
The Big Dig ceiling collapse occurred on July 10, 2006, when a concrete ceiling panel weighing 3 tons (2722 kg) and measuring 20 by 40 ft (6.1 by 12.2 m) fell in Boston’s Fort Point Channel Tunnel. The panel fell on a car traveling on the two-lane ramp connecting northbound I-93 to eastbound I-90 in South Boston, killing a passenger and injuring the driver.
The Romans built roads that were in use for millennia. 21st Century American Civilization can hardly seem to build something that lasts until the checks clear.
Yes, I know, Galloping Gertie, 1940. Have things always fallen down like this and I’m only being especially gloomy now?
