Last Thursday, the 950 ton pedestrian bridge at Miami's Florida International University collapsed, killing six people. One of them, Navarro Brown, 37, was working on the bridge at the time, as an employee of Structural Technologies. The other five victims had the unfortunate luck to be driving in cars underneath the bridge as it crumbled. The youngest one was Alexa Duran, 18, an FIU student who was giving her friend a ride to the doctor to pick up medication.
A newly released dashcam video captures the horrifying moment the Florida bridge collapsed. The worker, who must be Navarro Brown, is visible, working on the top left corner of the structure. When it collapses, he's thrown into the air, and disappears amid the rubble. The freeway traffic comes to a sudden halt, and stunned motorists exit their cars, running to the dust-clouded debris to help.
An official explanation for the collapse has not been given. Experts believe there are many reasons for the failure. The bridge had recently been redesigned, shifting the position of a tower. On Twitter, Senator Marco Rubio suggested that at the moment of collapse, the officials were tightening support cables as part of a stress test. The plan was to open the structure for foot traffic in 2019, but it was behind schedule and over budget. On the previous Saturday, it had been installed, despite lacking stay cables and a central support tower.
Even just a minor change in design can lead to a huge disaster, according to Henry Petroski, a Duke University civil engineering professor. "Once a design is completed," says Henry. "Subsequent modifications tend to be suggested and approved without the full care that went into the original design. This has happened time and again in bridges and other engineering structures."
Over 700 people gathered at the site of the accident to honor the six victims, who have all been identified. In addition to Navarro Brown and Alexa Duran, there was Rolando Fraga, 60, a system technician and truck driver; Brandon Brownfield, a married father of three; and Oswald Gonzalez, 57, and Alberto Arias, 53, friends on their way to a travel agency to pick up plane tickets for a trip to their homeland of Cuba.
On FIU campus, students ran another vigil, which included several moving tributes to Alexa. Her sorority sisters wore their chapter jerseys and laid down flowers. FIU president Mark Rosenberg gave a touching speech, saying, "We are going to carry the memory of the victims...so let our sadness galvanize us to stay the course of goodness and on promoting the hope and opportunity that will enable our community to rise stronger, to rise wiser, and to rise better as a consequence of this terrible loss."
Authorities are still investigating the cause of disaster. Hopefully they get the bottom of it soon, so they can prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims.
