10 Biggest Bridge Collapses Ever

On July 3rd, 2014, the Belo Horizonte Overpass, which was being built as part of the infrastructure improvements in and around the town that was getting ready to host the FIFA World Cup, collapsed on the busy Avenida Pedro roadway below crushing a bus and several cars. It's a wonder only two people were killed and 22 others were injured, although any death is one too many, of course. But the construction of this overpass, as well as many other projects built around preparation for the soccer extravaganza, had been marred in overspending and corruption allegations, which added insult to injury when the whole thing came crashing down. Upon investigation, it was revealed that Cohen Construction, the company responsible for building the overpass, had been forced to accelerate construction schedules, even though the project was already two months overdue. 9. Delacourne-Coach Overpass Collapse On September 30th, 2006, in the Val-Quebec, Canada, the third biggest city in the province, the Delacourne-Coach Overpass collapsed onto Highway 19, crushing two vehicles, killing five people, and seriously injuring six others who were said to have fallen from the overpass while working on repairs. What actually happened is that the center section of the overpass's south lane, 65 feet of armored concrete, broke off. It was later revealed that faulty engineering plans, cheaper materials, and corrupt entrepreneurs had been behind the catastrophe. The highway below was closed for four months, and the government was under fire for months. A public inquiry was launched, and all similar overpasses were promptly inspected. By the way, this mess happened on a Saturday at 1230 in the afternoon, which according to many explains why there weren't more casualties. Had this accident happened during the morning or evening rush hour, during a weekday, any more people could have been killed or injured. Number 8. Ketai-Kartanegara Bridge In Indonesia, on November 26, 2011, only ten years after its completion, the Ketai-Kartanegara Bridge, also known as the Mahakam II Bridge, collapsed into the Mahakam River, killing at least 20 people and injuring 40 more. The 2,329-foot bridge, which included an 886-foot suspension section, was built to look like the emblematic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, and was the longest suspension bridge in Indonesia. Unfortunately for Indonesians who connected between Tenggeran and Samarinda on that fatal day, it clearly wasn't built with the same care and meticulousness as the Golden Gate. Number 7. Queen Juliana Bridge Although you'd never guess by looking at the Queen Juliana Bridge today, the original structure collapsed during its construction in 1967, killing 15 workers. The current four-lane bridge, which crosses St. Anabey in Willemstad, the capital of Coruscant, reaches a height of 185 feet above water at its apex and, according to Wikipedia, weighs 3,400 tons. The bridge was named after the Queen of the Netherlands and was completed in 1974. Number 6. The I-35 West Mississippi River Bridge Officially known as the 9340 Bridge, the I-35 West Mississippi River Bridge was what is known as a steel truss arch bridge. It was eight lanes wide and spanned the St. Anthony Falls, part of the Mississippi River, in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The bridge was Minneapolis' third busiest, accommodating 140,000 vehicles a day. On August 1, 2007, during the evening rush hour, the bridge collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the horrifying tragedy and determined that a design flaw was likely responsible. Only a few days after the disaster, the Minnesota Department of Transportation started plans on a replacement bridge, the St. Anthony Falls Bridge, which opened promptly just over a year later. Then on November 13, 2008, the NTSB confirmed thinner gusset plates at 0.5 inches were partly responsible. Contributing to that error was the fact that two inches of concrete were added to the road surface over the years, which increased the static load by 20 percent. Add to that the fact that heavy construction equipment and material was sitting on the bridge's weakest point at the time of the collapse, and you have a recipe for disaster. Number 5. Iron Workers Memorial Bridge Part of the Trans-Canada Highway, the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, was originally named the Second Narrows Bridge because it was the second bridge to be built at the Second Narrows of Burrard Inlet, connecting the city to the north shore of the inlet to North Vancouver and West Vancouver. Unfortunately, during construction on June 17, 1958, while the crane stretched from the north side of the construction to join two cords of the unfinished arch, several spans of the bridge broke off. Seventy-nine workers fell 100 feet into the water. Eighteen are said to have died instantly or within minutes, possibly kept underwater by their heavy tool belts. A diver who went searching for bodies also drowned. In a Royal Commission inquiry, the collapse was attributed to errors by bridge engineers. In 1994, the 4,239-foot-long bridge, with a 1,099-foot center span, was officially renamed the Iron Workers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing to honor those 19 workers and four others who died during the construction process. Number 4. Hintze Ribeiro The Hintze Ribeiro Bridge in Antraos Rios, Castelo de Paiva, Portugal, collapsed during the evening of March 4, 2001, killing 59 people. The passengers of a bus, as well as the occupants of three cars, were crossing the Douro River. Since the current was fierce and a storm was happening at the time of the tragedy, bodies of the victims were found as far away as the coast of Spain and in France. Literally hours after the catastrophe, the Portuguese Transportation Minister, Jorge Coelho, resigned, and the following week, dozens of bridges were closed for immediate repair, clearly indicating that Portugal's infrastructures were in dire need of attention. Unfortunately, the Hintze Ribeiro tragedy victims will never come back, but their deaths did sound an important alarm. Number 3. Westgate Bridge The Westgate Bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, is what is known as a steelbox girder cable-stayed bridge. It spans the Yarra River and is 1,102 feet long, reaching over 190 feet at its highest point above the water. It's the third-longest bridge in the whole country, but two years into its construction, on October 15, 1970, the 367.5-foot span between piers 10 and 11 collapsed and fell 164 feet, killing 35 construction workers and injuring 18 others. A royal commission into the collapse attributed the tragedy to the structural design and an unusual method of construction by the contractors. The bridge was completed in 1978. Number 2. Songsu Bridge The Songsu Bridge was completed in 1979 and is 3,800 feet long, spanning the Han River, connecting the Gangnam and Songdung districts of Seoul, South Korea. Early in the morning of October 21, 1994, concrete slabs fell due to a suspension structure failure apparently caused by the improper welding of steel trusses. Thirty-two people died and 17 were injured. Although the cantilever bridge was supposed to be repaired, it was finally decided to be torn down and build a new one because of weaknesses in the structure. The new bridge, similar visually, was finished on August 15, 1997. Number 1. Quebec Bridge The massive Quebec Bridge is the longest cantilever bridge in the world and stretches 1,800 feet between its main piers. It cost $22 million Canadian dollars, built back in 1917, but was marred by tragedy during its lengthy construction. The bridge's history dates back to 1887 when many Quebec City entrepreneurs felt they needed a bridge spanning the St. Lawrence River near the capital city of the province. It took until 1900 before money from all levels of government became available and Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania in the United States was contracted to build the bridge. Long story short, even though the designers and engineers noticed some issues during construction, they chose to go forward with construction and on August 29, 1907 at 5.37 in the afternoon, around the same time the powers that be at the Phoenix Bridge Company were holding an emergency meeting about those structural issues, the bridge suddenly collapsed. Within about 15 seconds, the whole south anchor arm, the cantilever arm, and the partially completed suspended span fell 150 feet into the St. Lawrence River. At least 75 of the 86 workmen on the site died. Only 16 bodies were recovered from the twisted wreckage at the bottom of the river. The dead included 33 Native American Indians from the Kahnawake Reservation near Montreal, close to where the Honore-Mercier Bridge now crosses the St. Lawrence River. That bridge was also built with the help of Native American workers. The Quebec City bridge collapse was Canada's worst bridge disaster in history.