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TomTurkey
Joined: 10/11/1999
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We had a bridge beam seat/pad failure for the same reason.

A morning radio personality reported a significant "bump" at the end of the bridge. Upon inspection, and bridges are fully inspected a minimum of 2 years, the bridge seats on the end support, i.e., abutment, had cracked and slipped from the anchor bolts for the support bearings. The taller concrete bearing pads, to account for the side slope of the deck, were supposed to be reinforced with rebar stirrups since concrete is weak in tension. The other contributing factor was the Lucite®️ bearing at the first pier. It had a slot to allow span expansion but, upon installation, had the retaining nut tightened down much too snugly, preventing the longitudinal expansion movement. Thus, a lot of the expansion force was in the abutment end, cracking the unreinforced concrete seat/pads that dropped a few inches, creating the "bump." The bridge was about 25 years old at the time of the failure. Sometime, in a relevant thread, I'll share the other scary situation we found while on the reconnaissance inspection for this issue. ** Edited by TomTurkey at 7/17/2026, 10:28:45 AM
Posted: 07/17/2026 at 10:24 AM ET
(In response to this post by MikeVT85)

Thread Replies (10)

Full Thread →
Highrise buckled steel story: Crucial reinforcing steel was never installed
MikeVT85 07/17/26 09:24 AM ET
Special Inspections for Building Structures are typically performed
VT BronzeBacker 07/17/26 03:07 PM ET
eh . . . I prefer blaming the city inspector. **
MikeVT85 07/17/26 08:51 PM ET
Our t-shirt from college
TomTurkey 07/17/26 11:30 AM ET
We had a bridge beam seat/pad failure for the same reason.
TomTurkey 07/17/26 10:24 AM ET
Might have used more Simpson strong ties.**
PhotoHokieNC 07/17/26 03:11 PM ET
We also had a major concrete box culvert (or frame with a bottom slab).
TomTurkey 07/17/26 10:34 AM ET
Sounds about right. My initial guess was that either the...
MP4VT2004 07/17/26 09:42 AM ET
IBC requires structural observation by the engineer as well so it'll be
KeithHokie89 07/17/26 12:07 PM ET
Fair point.**
MP4VT2004 07/17/26 12:21 PM ET
Eh....it's New York, so probably some organized crime angle as well**
JoesterVT 07/17/26 09:53 AM ET