1983 — June 28, eastbound Mianus River Bridge Span Collapse, I-95, Greenwich, CT– 3

— 3  AP. “Three die as highway bridge collapses.” The Sun, Lowell, MA. 6-28-1983, p. 3.

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

— 3  Frederick and Young. “Mianus River Bridge Collapses…June 28.” ConnecticutHistory.org.

— 3  Delatte. Beyond Failure: Forensic Case Studies for Civil Engineers. ASCE, 2009, p. 185.

— 3  Levy and Salvadori. Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail. 1987, p. 138.

— 3  NTSB. HAR. Collapse of a Suspended Span of Interstate Route 95 Highway Bridge… p. 1

 

Narrative Information

 

Carper and Feld: “Mianus River Bridge, Connecticut Turnpike, June 1983.  Three persons were killed when a connection gave way, allowing a section of the 26-year-old bridge to collapse into the river.”  (Carper and Feld.  Construction Failure. 1997, p. 13.)

 

National Transportation Safety Board Synopsis: “At 1:30 a.m., e.d.t. on June 28, 1983, a 100-foot-long suspended span between piers 20 and 21 of the eastbound traffic laves of the Interstate Route 95 highway bridge over the Mianus River in Greenwich, Connecticut, collapsed and fell 70 feet into the river below. Two tractor-semitrailers and two automobiles plunged into the void in the bridge and were destroyed by impact from the fall. Three vehicle occupants died, and three received serious injuries.

 

“The suspended span which collapsed was attached to the bridge structure at each of its four corners. To support the weight of the northeast and southeast corners of the suspended span, each corner was attached to the girders of the cantilever arm of an adjacent anchor span by a pin and hanger assembly. The pin and hanger assembly includes an upper pin attached through the 2½ inch-thick web of the girder of the suspended span. One and one half-inch thick steel hangers connect the upper and lower pins — one on the inside and one on the outside of the web.

 

“Sometime before the collapse of the suspended span, the inside hanger in the southeast corner of the span came off of the inside end of the lower pin. This action shifted the entire weight of the southeast corner of the span onto the outside hanger. The outside hanger gradually worked its way farther outward on the pin, and over a period of time, a fatigue crack developed in the top outside end of the upper pin. The shoulder of the pin fractured off, the pin and hanger assembly failed, and the span collapsed into the river.

 

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the collapse of the Mianus River bridge span was the undetected lateral displacement of the hangers of the pin and hanger suspension assembly in the southeast corner of the span by corrosion-induced forces due to deficiencies in the State of Connecticut’s bridge safety inspection and bridge maintenance program.”

 

Newspaper

 

June 28, Associated Press: “Greenwich, Conn. (AP) — A 100-foot section of an interstate highway bridge collapsed before dawn today, hurling trucks and cars 70 feet into the Mianus River. Three people were killed and at least three others were critically injured, authorities said. The three eastbound lanes of the bridge dropped into the river at about 1:30 a.m. on Interstate 95, Connecticut’s main highway into New York City some 20 miles to the southwest, said Chet West, Greenwich Fire Department dispatcher. Two tractor-trailer trucks and two cars fell into the water, and Guard and Greenwich police boats searched the river for more motorists who may have been trapped in their cars. State police spokesman John McLeod confirmed three people died. In addition, two women and one may were taken to the emergency room of Greenwich Hospital in critical condition.

 

“Authorities said they had no idea why the bridge fell apart. The 100-foot section made a clean break with the rest of the bridge. The 25-year-old bridge on the Connecticut Turnpike was last inspected in September, said state Transportation Commissioner J. William Burns. ‘There were problems with the bridge deck, but not with the structure,’ he said….

 

“The accident happened at high tide, when the water is about eight to 10 feet deep, said Lt. Joe Orrico of the Cos Cob Fire Department….

 

“Gordon Gillman, who lives next to the bridge, said that in recent weeks it had been making ‘some squeaking noises,’ which he had reported to the state Transportation Department. ‘They said that had been contacted — they’d had people call — and that regular maintenance needed to be done.’ Gillman said….” (Associated Press. “Three die as highway bridge collapses.” The Sun, Lowell, MA. 6-28-1983, p. 3.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Three die as highway bridge collapses.” The Sun, Lowell, MA. 6-28-1983, p. 3. Accessed 4-122-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-jun-28-1983-p-31/?tag

 

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

 

Delatte, Norbert J. Jr.  Beyond Failure: Forensic Case Studies for Civil Engineers. Reston, VA:  American Society of Civil Engineers Press, 2009.

 

Frederick, Karen, and Anne Young. “Mianus River Bridge Collapses — Today in History: June 28.” ConnecticutHistory.org. Accessed 4-12-2017 at: https://connecticuthistory.org/mianus-river-bridge-collapses-today-in-history/

 

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

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Highway Accident Report. Collapse of a Suspended Span of Interstate Route 95 Highway Bridge Over the Mianus River, Greenwich, Connecticut, June 28, 1983. Washington, DC: NTSB, adopted 7-19-1984, 112 pages. Accessed 4-14-2017 at:

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR8403.pdf