Bridge History and Design Problems
The overpass on the Boulevard de la Concorde (Concorde Boulevard) was built in 1970 and was expected to have a life span of 70 years, of which it only lasted 36. David Lau, as part of an article for the Ottawa Citizen, suggests that this estimation of 70 years was inaccurate. They underestimated traffic volumes; they also did not take into account that "the amount and weight of trucks today's roadways are significantly higher". He noted, "30 or 40 years ago, engineers could not anticipate the traffic some of their bridges would be forced to accommodate in the coming decades".
The design of the overpass was considered innovative at the time; however, this design made it nearly impossible to inspect thoroughly, as the entire deck would have had to be removed for such an inspection.
Michel Despres (Transport Minister of Quebec) stated that it was inspected once a year, and got a more in-depth inspection once every three years, as per the usual inspection requirements in Quebec, last being May 2005. Ken Bontius, a civil/structural engineer at Hatch Mott MacDonald adds that the bridge was examined bi-annually by structural engineers.
Read more about this topic: De La Concorde Overpass Collapse
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