In this video, I discuss the results of independent, satellite based data that indicates anomalous movements of the bridge deck years before the sudden catastrophic failure of the west bridge occurred on September 11, 2024. I cover how this data is obtained and how it can be used in the future to prevent similar failures from occurring.
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European Space Agency information about InSAR
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Stories in the media about this bridge collapse:
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43 Comments
I managed to garble the description of InSAR terms in the video. Here is the correction ● Overview- Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a remote sensing technology used to measure ground surface deformation with high precision. It works by comparing radar signals from two or more passes of a satellite or aircraft over the same area. By analyzing the phase difference between these radar signals, InSAR can detect minute changes in the Earth's surface over time.
I have found iver years if work with state government entities that most often, the process is to get something built. Let the next administration worry about the maintenance, even if that's a consideration. And, even if the money is built into the budget for preventative maintenance, oftentimes, it's gobbled up by another immediate need. Basically, like a deck of cards, nothing happens until a collapse. Once something starts to fail, it all collapses, and then fingers begin wagging.
In a way that monitoring already exists. There's the "Bodenbewegungsdienst Deutschland" ("Ground movement service Germany"), a part of an European project of all countries that participate in the Sentinel mission. It's specifically tasked to use this exact data to monitor the countries for ground movements (landslides, sinkholes, mine shaft collapses, etc), and does not look at bridges and the like. They have a freely available web portal (I'll try to link it in a reply to this comment). Unfortunately, unlike the commercial provider, they exclude bridges for the most part. But it should be (more or less) straightforward to expand that project to infrastructure!
So similar to the Florida condo collapse. Too little thought to repair, too late. Concrete needs more maintenance than is currently being done. Water proofing is a main need to keep corrosion of re-rod to a minimum.
I don't trust freeway "flyovers" more than 40 or less than 20 years old. I avoid them as much as possible.
The degradation of the old ones and the cost cutting by builders in the newer are just too common.
Pre-stressed or Post Tension assemblies solve a lot of issues, but not without some down sides. I've encountered many cable ends that were not properly sealed. Many times the use of a torch to cut the excess leaves a lot of slag, or too much cable behind, which prevents the caps from being properly installed allowing water intrusion. I know there are other ways to prevent water intrusion besides caps.
Wall I can say is holy shit! I’m retired now but I can see huge engineering potential in so many fields. Maybe even pipeline failure.
Sharp analysis. Excellent report.
Wonder what if any trends were evident in the satellite data for the bridge that failed in Rhode Island? Would Surfside condominium collapse show any trends? Would Palos Verdes land slippage trends show up over the years?
PS — Iceland is using the satellite data to estimate the megatons of lava from each of the current series of volcanic eruptions
To Caséy Jones – Engineer,
Please do an updated video on the new Detroit/Windsor Gordie Hówie International Bridge.
Would it survive a military/terrorist attack either by ship or Russia/China cruise missiles considering the cost of the néw bridge. I am comparing to the Baltimore – Francis Scott Key bridge vs Detroit for Shipping protection.
What special protective coating were built-in concerning winter vs road salts used in Michigan.
They don't build them like they used to.
Go Brooklyn Bridge! Roebling knew what he was doing.
Ammann and Whitney are the "go to" folks for bridges.
Most of this technical stuff escapes me, but the point certainly lands loud and clear.
Great video. I just wonder about you obsession with the USSR, a country that ceased to exist more than 30 years ago. If the bridge fell due to lack of maintenance, the responsibility falls to the German government.
Thanks! New tech
Built during the Soviet era??? Probably not built as well as it should have been…
🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁1000
There always seem to be OBVIOUS eyeball evident indicators or flaws-always reported after the fact-whenever their is a significant failure/tragedy-.
The 3 am failure-when it was under NO extra load-NO PEOPLE NO CARS-why??? Does Germany have high winds there late-current change-temperature change?
Our 3 NASA FAILURES-the capsule test fire-3 dead astronauts 100%O2-exposed wiring-the 2 shuttle failures 1)O-ring temp too low 2)damaged ceramic tiles-eyeball evident previously-always seem soooo obvious in hindsight
5 inch rise-fall in 6 years-should have been evident where up ramp met bridge-eyeball obvious-someone ignored itIt seems like these scanning companies should be offering a civil service package where a municipality could give them a list of critical infrastructure, and "if it moves, call us"
This is one reason why I'm hype for the future of comercial space, they are making it possible that this kind of tracking on an affordable scale. It's such a new concept that they have the data and don't even know what to do with most of it
How do you overcome the human tendency to be stupidly optimistic?It hasn't happened yet-so it won't happen?
Explorers sailed literally into unknown seas-around Africa-even worse around South America-actually thinking is unlikely they would die miserably-
many made it-but many did not.Humans are by nature STUPIDLY OPTIMISTIC! Has not happened yet -so it will not happen.
These failures are human factor failures much more than engineering failures-hell a Commie bridge lasted 50+ years-not bad.
I had a West German bicycle-1969-it was junk-chain stay to bottom bracket weld failed-but it was crude enough "tubing" really just pipe-that it accepted a crude weld and lasted many more years-something to be said for thick cheap steel-try that with aluminum or CF-oh it sorta sagged-so never lost control -something to be said for steel even cheap steel-it bends but so what-aluminum or CF I would have kissed the asphalt(I ride CF bikes now-and aluminum and steel-853 steel)
Kolkoff was the brand-W German manufacture
12:44 – Would this approach have revealed the imminent failure of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis?
Tofu dregs was pioneered in East Germany.
They do check the same type of bridge constructions of course.
This bridge was up to refurbishment but not considered extra urgent. They got surprised by the collapse. A sign that they need to think about better monitoring methods. The ones they used obviously did not tell them what they needed to know.
There is an 95 plus year old drawbridge (Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, operated by the Burlington bridge commission) in my city they are no longer personally inspecting. They decided inspecting it via drone is much more efficient!!! I feel so safe.
"Keystone Aerial tested three aerial cameras integrated with its UAV to see which provided best results during the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Inspection Project. There was a clear winner – from 130ft away!"
I'm not a civil engineer, but I find it very hard to believe that an engineer on the bridge is not doing a better job than a UAV inspection. OTOH, PA is known for doing inspections of bridges and then pretending they didn't see all the damage found during the inspection (recall the YEARS of inspections of the decaying bridge that fell in Pittsburgh)
Dear Casey, This just highlights that these important infrastructure assets are now coming to their life’s end, this is compounded that in 1971 i bet no design anticipated the traffic growth and weight it would eventually be subjected to
Wow!! Really like your Pirate Bunny shirt, Rabbit n Cross Bones feels truly Long John Silver style. Ace, like the cut of your jib me 'earty, oh arrr, Jim Lad!!! Ref the application of remote monitoring of major infrastructure via satellite, this is the future, and you were first to present this to the world. Fame beckons!!! Brilliant stuff!! I knew that the detailed analysis of civil engineering was crucial, which is why I subbed a year or so ago. Never expected this level of vital data usage!! Thank you
I doubt the Germans would bother to do much investigative work on why it collapsed.
Enough to say "Soviet built," and move on.
Fascinating application of the tech.
When we get the warning data before collapse, I will pay attention. How is my condo doing?
Just from camera view just before the collapse , it looks as though you can see a sag in that area. Didn't notice it the first video you made.
You can thank the Conservatives and the Market-Liberals in Germany for this. For decades they have blocked infrastructure maintenance in the name of increasing profits. They also have been privatising public utilities since the Reaganomics years of the 1980s and 1990s. The result kis e.g. that the German railway company, from being a boring but uttely reliable government department, turned into a joke of delays and construction sites. It was only under the current government with the Social Democrats and Greens (but against the opposition of the market-liberal FDP coalition partner, which want to reduce taxes, mainly for businesses) that serious infrastructure repairs are being done. But there is a backlog of decades.
I was shocked when I found out this occurred in Germany.
It just goes to show that infrastructure all over the World is at risk, and for a myriad of reasons.
It’s amazing the satellite can measure so accurately and we can draw any useful inferences from it, because pedestrians and trains over the bridge would naturally change the “height” of the bridge massively on different passes.Did they just measure a handrail or something?
All of your videos are interesting!
Wouldn't they notice on the ground if it was moving an inch a year?
I would never have guessed satellite Radar mapping could measure bridge deflection. It opens up a whole new field of structural analysis.
When people question the wisdom of spending money on space-based technology, especially “mission to planet Earth”, it is things like this that can answer in concrete terms (pun intended).
Thank you for your reporting. Please keep up the great work.
That's a tremendous amount of data they're storing. Do you know how long they keep this information or how far back you can search?
Every video is addictive and fascinating. I’m in Omaha and it’s scary to think about the two most used bridges across the Missouri River which we use to travel I-29 north and south as well as I-80 east. There are many bridges where we can see the steel frame and most show corrosion some awful. The farther north the more salt. As a younger man we traveled I-35W bridge which collapsed some years after we last traveled that to and from Duluth Mn
I've been doing my own bridge designs. I fabricate, install, then test with real locomotives hauling heavy trains, all in HO scale😅
There is an area were AI controled decision-making would be a clear improvement over red-tape-ostrich-policy
Poor Dresden is in the part of Germany called The Valley of the Clueless. So the East German communists couldn’t build bridges. No surprise.
The satellite monitoring could be a very powerful tool for transportation departments everywhere
I'm fighting my misophonia so hard to keep watching your really informative and interesting videos. 😭😅🙃