It was built in 1940 back then not as much traffic. Main people were farmers. Before that they had barges that would move people to one side and another they still have to this day . Faries that push the barges loaded with cars trucks semi cattle across. When I grew up from Led better to Smithland about 20 houses main road there were just farms....r
I worked for a contractor 40 years ago resurfacing this bridge. It was in great shape back then. I didn't realize how bad this was with the erosion stressing the structure like this. Definitely the bridge had to come down before something very serious happened. Looks like it wasn't torn down any too soon. Looks like it should have been addressed sooner.
My brother worked for wpsd in 2009 he called me in the middle of the day and told me that he had worked on a story about that bridge,he told me that it was recently inspected and the score was given to the highway department or whatever. The score given to a bridge is between 1 to 100. That Bridge that was driven on for years after that scored a 3.
I remember driving quads and dirtbikes under this bridge years before it was closed. You could literally see cars pass over from underneath from all the holes in the concrete... There was a "catwalk" with a ladder that was hanging off and we would get our crazy friends to climb up it. That bridge caused a lot of deaths from car crashes to people hitting pedestrians and people jumping off.
I remember a few wrecks but not deaths I don't know of anyone who jumped but have not lived there in years not since 1981. Two girls I went to high school was speeding and ran into back of semi trailer got hurt bad. R
Out here in Everett, Wash we had a small train bridge on Broadway that looked like part of the road. But underneath it , the bridge that was over 100 yrs. Old was falling apart. The road was soon closed and repaired but if it was just ignored, it might have caved in.The train tracks run right under it.
sorry to be off topic but does any of you know a method to log back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot the account password. I would love any help you can offer me!
@Coen Louie Thanks for your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm trying it out atm. I see it takes a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@@ckennedy109637 Is that sarcasm, or is this a joke how the contractors inflate the price of their services when they are hired to work for the government? A video drone service usually costs around $150 per hour and a simplisafe alarm package is around $300 with a $15 monthly fee.
The greatest vlog yet. The narrator is great, the content is great, thanks for posting. And no stupid, irritating music, just the narrator and the humming of that wasp flying with a GoPro on its back. Seriously glad you didn’t have some irritating music that distracts from the video.
Has anyone else noticed that the I-24 Bridge near Paducah appears to be leaning? I drove across it Aug 8th and the suspension section on the KY side was noticeably leaning to the west.
In the mid-70's, driving from CO to NC, I crossed the two US68 bridges across the Land Between the Lakes, which were pretty much identical to the one in this video. At night, of course. All of us in the car still have wear marks on our teeth from meeting the 18-wheelers on those crossings. The bridges were evidently replaced over the last 10 years, but you can still see them on Google Maps Street View (as of August 2021).
All the Amateur Engineers keep saying what a poor design. The bridge itself didn't collapse, the approach did. That collapsed because the ground below it shifted. It stood without issue for 75 years, I don't think the engineering was that bad. For the record, the pier that shifted looked to have been replaced once already. If the original builders are guilty of anything it would be locating the bridge where they did.
Not claiming to be an amateur engineer... Just a poor old farm boy who's busted a few "engineered" bridges.... One would think that the pilings should be set in bedrock... Perhaps there is no bedrock there?? If they are in bedrock, they would have to have broken by the landslide..... Whatever that case, interesting! BTW, I'm with you, doesn't matter what it's about, always too many "engineers" that know it all...
Under the cement you can see all the rust The natural elements cause the rust which in turn degrades the cement and your absolutely right about the pier structure don't appear to have been driven at the correct depth.
hahahaha yeah mothman! where were you on that one? that's your whole deal, bridge warning duty. Mothman read the comment section. mothman: "Oops, I had a wicked hangover that night before, too many highballs and hookers, my bad"
Same here.2000-03 I was driving across it twice daily with mentally & physically handicapped passengers. Nothing good would have happened in an emergency with them onboard.
@@HighFiveGhost50 No, they would have all been panicking & I would have to make very hard choices for who got out. I'd be going down with the bus trying to get them all out safely.
Judging from the amount of rust on the bridge, it was due for replacement anyways. However, that the bridge piers were displaced by a landslide suggests that the piers didn't have solid footings. They should have been sitting on bedrock or pilings.
People would stop driving over bridges if they knew how many had bad sufficiency ratings. Well I take that back... people are stupid and would still cross them. I have seen people drive around dirt piles on roads blocking traffic from crossing a bridge...
Depends on when the bridge was built and where it was built also arguably there are bridges in MUCH worse shape than the bridge here but still quite safe
I used to drive across it all the time just before they closed it. For years I held my breath going across but it wouldn't have done any good. I knew it was unsafe but I was not fully aware of how unsafe it was. The crazy thing is that most of the major routes in this area have bridges that are in the same shape.
We were still driving on that in July 2013. I live 8 miles past and the explosions during demolition were loud. Amazing that about 15 miles past is another bridge about as bad still in use spanning the Cumberland River.
As a resident from Livingston county...used to travel this bridge everyday when I was younger to get to walmart to shop. It was a scary bridge to begin with...the one in Smithland is even worse....before too long it will do the same thing
When you live out in the sticks you're damn happy to have one. The only other options are overpriced little mom & pop stores that don't carry much and if they can get what you need, they can have it for you in a couple of weeks. Yeah, there's Amazon too but some things you need that day or want yesterday. We just got a Walmart here in our county in Southern Indiana last year. Before that the largest store in the whole county was Ace Hardware. If you needed anything else you drove 30 miles to the Clarksville IN / Louisville KY area.
She actually caused it to collapse with few words spoken. Her sister was using a line trimmer at the same time...and uh...so ugh. Get her name and identification immediately. She might just cause a bridge to go down near you and me.
Good fortune scoring a doco gig. Usually that much vocal fry is selected for ads promoting Indian casinos and Fast Casual dining chains that serve alcohol.
I saw the demolition of the bridge on the news before hearing it. I only live 3 miles away. I was pretty cool. I was late to class that day because I wanted to watch it.
Most of those bridges are nearly a century old, and some have passed that mark. Most were 20 feet wide (some 18) and were not designed to carry the loads they did in later years. Though the support steel was a bit rotted, the reason for this failure was the collapse of the bridge abutment. They all need replacing; even the I-24 bridge is insufficient.
@KyTransCenter " .... the poor state of the bridge's structural integrity disallowed bridge inspectors and contractors to safely inspect the bridge for fear of collapse" Okay, this should be good .......If you fear its imminent collapse, just what *is* it that you are inspecting it for??!!
Nine months was the time between the opening of the new bridge and the start of the collapse of the old bridge. Considering that the bridge had stood sound for eighty-two years I wouldn't consider nine months to be very long. In fact I'd *almost* consider it a pants-wetting short amount of time. Almost.
1:49 I know I'm picking nits but the pier didn't rotate towards the abutment. The footing moved away from the abutment. In a formal engineering report this would make a difference, in a RU-vid video, well, it should still be indicated correctly but doesn't make a big difference.
Those warned listened in this situation and the bridge claimed no lives. However 15 December 1967, in Point Plesant, West Virginia, United States of America, the Silver Bridge collapsed after much warning was given to those that would listen. 46 died in the frigid waters, in their cars filled with Christmas presents. 47 went in into water that cold night. The cold claimed many. Wake up number 47.
Looks like a bridge I’d see in a nightmare that would end up collapsing with me on it or the road deck giving way to where I can see the support beams underneath 😳 Freaky to see a bridge in real life that would typically appear in a nightmare glad it was closed before there were fatalities
Am I seeing sparks and fire at 04:26? If so, what would cause that (as this occurred before the planned demolition)? EDIT: from reading other comments, I learn that it was possible that live power lines were carried by this bridge and that's what sparked when the bridge collapsed.
This was fascinating footage and I appreciated the commentary that went along with it, but the ads were infuriating. I am giving you a thumbs up because of the interest but was tempted to give a thumbs down because of the stupid ads.
@@johnmccallum8512 Thanks for the advice, because it wasn't just this one (1 midsentence) but its happened on several review channels as well... As many as 3 interrupting at odd times in a 12-13 minute video. It's overkill. Now I know who to gripe to.
In some states is it illegal to fly drones around a road or Bridge structures or buildings that's why they had to use a new name to be official and not break the law
@@emiliogreenwood8190 ok, so if I were to rename theft to "Apple pie" I could get away with it in some states? That's really weird, but I think I get it. 😳
I used to live in Paducah and I rode across this bridge a few times growing up. Barge traffic was always hitting the bridge and it was built if I remember correctly in the late 1920s. It was known back in 2000 that the Bridge needed to be replacedand they ask for bids and proposals for a replacement bridgebut going to newbridge takes time especially when you got saved up money during the middle of a recession
Technically its not a drone.The definition of a drone is a ariel object that flys by itself to and from an area.But its flown by a human pilot while in the area.Look it up
@@lawrencecarpenter638 After doing a little looking around, I've found that the manufacturers are calling their products "drones" and an accepted dictionary definition of a drone is "a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft or small flying device", aka an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
I drove over this bridge since I was 7years old with mom and dad driving. I used for until I was 21 my sis and other familiy member used it until it was destroyed same with the smithland river bridge needs to be replaced also. Not safe for bus drivers with kids on board.... R from ky.
These bridges we cross every day are not meant to last forever. We need to attend to our infrastructure instead of funding the rich through our “wars”.
doughesson The democratic governor can't do much if the republican senators give all the tax money to bailing out corporations instead of sending it home to make repairs.
It was an old bridge that wasn't safe, so they built a new one. No one got hurt, the collapse was expected, so there's nothing to blame anyone for. A bridge replaced in a timely manner is what's supposed to happen. Can't believe I'm defending McConnnell as I can't stand him and I'm not too pleased with KY for inflicting him on the rest of us, but fair is fair.
Should her voice annoy you, you can avoid this annoyance by simply turning your volume to 0 or simply going on to another video. I applaud this young lady for her efforts at narrating this interestingly informative video! Well Done!!