Comments on: The rock ‘n’ roll bridge

By: boliyou

boliyou — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:48:46 +0000

I remember hearing about this before, and seeing the video, but never with the commentary from the newsreel.

I do remember the ad that Paul’s talking about, and thinking it was pretty funny at the time.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:51:40 +0000

A few years ago, one of the major stereo companies used this clip to sell car speakers. The clip played much faster than it does here, and the shaking stops when the driver of the car on the bridge turns off his stereo. Near as I can tell, no dogs were injured.

By: M.A. McClavey

M.A. McClavey — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:30:36 +0000

Why the hell didn’t the guy in the car let the dog out? It didn’t even appear to me that the man was running in the clip.

By: Stew

Stew — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:57:20 +0000

I read about this in around 1970. If I remember they also attributed it to the ratio of bridge width (and depth of the deck) to main span length and lightweight decks. At that time it was thought that thin long bridges were beautiful and each new bridge decreased the ratio. This low ratio impacted the bridges torsional ridgidity. A very narrow, thin and long bridge is more likely flutter in the wind. They quickly looked at other bridges that had low ratios. If I remember correctly because of the analysis of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse, the Bronx Whitestone Bridge had trusswork added to the roadway to increase it’s torsional ridgidity.

-Stew

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:23:25 +0000

That is SO weird!I’d seen the film clip before, but I didn’t know that was concrete tisting like that. You’d think it would develop cracks long before the collapse. But what do I know?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 20:45:19 +0000

There was only one fatality from the bridge collapse…there was a dog in the car that was on the bridge.

It’s my understanding that the bridge structure was thinner and lighter due to the use of the I-beams, which increased its flexibility.