— 10 Carper and Feld. Construction Failure. 1997, p. 13.

— 10 Knirr, Michelle. The Failure of the Schoharie Creek Bridge. University of Iowa, p. 1 of 6.

— 10 Krajewski. Bridge Inspection and Interferometry. 2006, p. 23.

— 10 Levy and Salvadori. Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail. 1987, p. 146.

— 10 NTSB. Highway Accident Report. Collapse of NY Thruway (I-90) Bridge over… 2002.

— 10 NTSB. Lessons Learned and Lives Saved 1967-2007 (Safety Report). 2014 mod., p. 5.

— 10 USGS. Summary of Significant Floods in the US, PR, and the VI, 1970-1989. 2008.

Narrative Information

Carper and Field: “Schoharie Creek Bridge, New York State Thruway, April 1987. Ten persons died when a pier failed due to scour of the pier footing, a situation that might have been detected by a periodic inspection program.

“These failures[2] and others led to enhanced dam safety programs and greater emphasis on inspection and maintenance of existing civil structures.” (Carper and Feld. Construction Failure. 1997, p. 13.)

NTSB: “SYNOPSIS. On April 5, 1987, two spans of the New York State Thruway (1-90) bridge over the Schoharie Creek fell about 80 feet into a rain-swollen creek after pier 3, which partially supported the spans, collapsed. Ninety minutes after the initial collapse, pier 2 and a third span collapsed. Four passenger cars and one tractor-semitrailer plunged into the creek, and 10 persons were fatally injured.

“The National Transportation Safety -Board determines that the-probable cause of the collapse of the Schoharie Creek Bridge was the failure of the New York State Thruway Authority to maintain adequate riprap around the bridge piers, which led to severe erosion in the soil beneath the spread footings. Contributing to the accident were ambiguous plans and specifications used for construction of the bridge, an inadequate NYSTA bridge inspection program, and inadequate oversight by the New York State Department of. Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. Contributing to the severity of the accident was the lack of structural redundancy in the bridge.

“The primary safety issues raised by this accident are the adequacy of the bridge design and construction, -the adequacy of the inspection and maintenance practices for this bridge, and the adequacy of the Federal/State oversight of private independent authorities.” (NTSB. HAR. 2002.)

USGS: “The first significant flood of 1987 occurred in the Northeastern States and began late in March. Warm temperatures and rainfall accelerated snowmelt runoff. Three separate storms moved through the region during the first week of April. These storms caused severe flooding through Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts… Sixteen streamflow-gaging stations in the three States recorded maximum discharges greater than the 100-year recurrence interval. The hardest hit areas in Maine were the Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Piscataquis River Basins. Record lake levels were reached in at least six flood-control reservoirs in New Hampshire and Vermont. New York was affected by severe flooding along Schoharie Creek, eventually causing failure of a New York State Thruway bridge. The bridge collapse caused 10 deaths and, during preliminary investigations, was attributed to scour around the piers (Zembrzuski, 1990[3]). Total damages were estimated at $100 million in Maine and $65 million in New York (Paulson and others, 1991).” (USGS. Summary of Significant Floods in the US, PR, and the VI, 1970-1989. 2008.)

Newspapers

April 6, Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY: “Amsterdam — Rescuers have recovered one body but an unknown number of others were missing after a Thruway bridge collapsed Sunday [April 7] into the swirling, muddy water of Schoharie Creek. Rescuers located two vehicles and the body late Sunday…said Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy…

“Authorities said they think at least two people died when their vehicles plunged 70 feet into the swollen creek three miles west of the Amsterdam exit. Part of a tractor-trailer truck and the wreckage of a white Cadillac were spotted downriver from the bridge. Witnesses said they saw at least three other cars fall into the water when the 500-foot-long bridge collapsed shortly after 10:30 a.m….The fast-moving, muddy-water prevented police divers from searching for victims or other vehicles Sunday. ‘We can’t do a thing,’ said [a] volunteer firefighter… ‘There are trees coming down the creek 2 feet wide and 30 to 40 feet long, some longer. Refrigerators, a picnic table, benches, all kinds of debris.’….

“State Police said water was being held back at a dam 30 miles upstream in hopes that rescue workers could spot vehicles and send divers and helicopters in a search for bodies.

“[NY Thruway] Authority Chairman Henry Bersani speculated that the concrete bridge piers were weakened by record-high water levels, causing two sections of the four-lane bridge to collapse. Levine ordered immediate inspections of other similarly built bridges on the 559-mile Thruway and said they would be closed if they, too, were being buffeted by floodwater. After touring the site, Gov. Mario Cuomo asked the state Department of Transportation to make a similar inspection of its bridges.

“The 30-year-old structure was a deck-girder bridge, built by placing steel girders on top of four huge concrete piers, which, in turn, were sunk into abutments in the creek. The bridge last had been inspected in April 1986 and was given a rating of 6 on a scale of 1 to 7, Chief Engineer Daniel Garvey said. It is the second-longest bridge of its type on the Thruway, and was used by about 15,000 vehicles a day.

“Thruway bridges are inspected once every two years, a program that was stepped up after the collapse of a Connecticut Turnpike bridge,[4] Garvey said. The Schoharie Creek bridge was rehabilitated within the last five years, Cuomo spokesman Gary Fryer said.

“The collapse effectively severs the highway, and Levine said it would be at least a year until the bridge could be replaced. In the interim, motorists are being diverted onto secondary roads, which will add about 35 minutes to the 2½ to 3 hours it now takes to drive between Syracuse and Albany, Bersani said. But since the double-trailer trucks that now use the Thruway are not allowed on the local roads, the bridge collapse effectively prevents them from traveling across New York state, Bersani said. State transportation officials were trying to set up permanent detours that could accommodate the tandem trailers, DOT spokesman Timothy Hulbert sid….

“At the bottom of the chasm, the silt-filled water ran over the bent pieces of green steel that once supported four lanes of pavement. Other girders hung like twisted ribbons from either end of the bridge approaches. Only the gray guiderails were untouched by the disaster, continuing to run across the creek from one side to the other.

“Today, engineers from the Thruway Authority and state Transportation Department were to be joined by some outside consulting engineers in an effort to determine the actual cause of the collapse, the first in the Thruway’s 30-year history….

“State police Maj. Edward Vanderwall said the westbound span of the four-lane bridge collapsed at 10:48 a.m. and the two-lane east-bound section immediately began to sag and went down about 15 minutes later. Another 15 minutes later, more of the bridge collapsed….

“The flooding that collapsed the bridge also forced evacuation of 50 families in neighboring Schoharie County, said Ron Connors, director of the office of emergency management. A flood watch was in effect Sunday for the area, where three to five inches of rain have fallen since midnight Friday.” (Syracuse Herald-Journal/Jonathan D. Salant. “Body found in collapse of bridge.” 4-6-1987, pp. 1 & 6.)

April 7, Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY: “Albany — State Thruway inspectors failed to examine two of the concrete piers of the now collapsed Schoharie Creek bridge during their April 1986 review, state officials said Monday. The revelation came as officials began trying to find out why the 540-foot-long steel bridge, 110 miles east of Syracuse, fell 80 feet Sunday morning into the raging, swollen creek. At least three persons were killed in the collapse. More people were reported missing and presumed dead.

“Investigators from the Federal Highway Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were to arrive here today to begin their own probes….” (Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY. “Probers didn’t inspect 2 bridge piers last April.” 4-7-1987, p. 1.)

Sources

Carper, Kenneth L. and Jacob Feld. Construction Failure. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=-jnlb-oJxcEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=true

Knirr, Michelle. The Failure of the Schoharie Creek Bridge. University of Iowa, no date, 6 pgs. Accessed 11-12-2016 at: https://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/sites/default/files/hctc/files/Michelle%20Knirr%20-%20The%20Failure%20of%20the%20Schoharie%20Creek%20Bridge%20.pdf

Krajewski, Joseph E. Bridge Inspection and Interferometry. Master of Science Thesis, Civil Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, May 2006, 120 pages. Accessed 11-12-2016 at: http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/ETD/Available/etd-050406-092613/unrestricted/JKrajewski-Thesis.pdf

Levy, Matthys, and Mario Salvadori. Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.

National Transportation Safety Board. Lessons Learned and Lives Saved 1967-2007 (Safety Report NTSB/SR-07/01). Washington, DC: NTSB, 2007. 7-8-2014 digital modification accessed at: http://www.ntsb.gov/about/Documents/SR0701.pdf

National Transportation Safety Board. Highway Accident Report. Collapse of NY Thruway (I-90) Bridge Over the Schoharie Creek, Near Amsterdam, New York, April 5, 1987 (HAR-88/02). Washington, DC: NTSB, 2002. At: http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/1988/HAR8802.htm

Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY (Jonathan D. Salant, Albany Bureau). “Body found in collapse of bridge. More feared dead in Thruway tragedy.” 4-6-1987, pp. 1 & 6. Accessed 11-12-2016. http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/syracuse/syracuse-herald-journal/1987/04-06/page-6?tag

Syracuse Herald-Journal, NY (Erik Kriss and Jonathan D. Salant). “Probers didn’t inspect 2 bridge piers last April.” 4-7-1987, p. 1. Accessed 11-12-2016 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/syracuse/syracuse-herald-journal/1987/04-07/page-59?tag

United States Geological Survey. Summary of Significant Floods in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, 1970 Through 1989 (Water-Supply Paper 2502). USGS Kansas Water Science Center, Sep 17, 2008. Accessed 11-12-2016 at: http://ks.water.usgs.gov/pubs/reports/wsp.2502.contents.html#HDR1

[1] The I-90 (NY State Thruway) Schoharie Creek bridge is about a mile south of Fort Hunter hamlet, Montgomery County, and about 5½ miles west of Amsterdam, NY, which is 37 miles northwest of the state capital of Albany.

[2] Had previously noted the Teton Dam, Idaho failure, June 1976, with 11 fatalities, and the June 1983 Mianus Riv Bridge, Connecticut Turnpike, failure, with three fatalities.

[3] Zembrzuski, T.J., Jr., 1990, Flood-induced collapse of the New York State Thruway Bridge near Amsterdam, New York, April 5, 1987, in National water summary, 1987, Hydrologic events and water use: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2350, p. 45-48.

[4] June 28, 1983 — Mianus River Bridge collapse, Greenwich, CT, with three fatalities.

1987 — Apr 5, Flooding/Schoharie Creek bridge fails/vehicles fall, I-90 ~Fort Hunter,[1] NY-10