The Silver Bridge disaster
How the Silver Bridge and the Hi-Carpenter Bridge differed from other suspension bridges in one crucial aspect.
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I was 13 years old when this bridge fell. My parents had to go out of town for a few days and left my younger sister and I with some close friends who lived in the same neighborhood. The man of the house was a truck driver and a good man. He had a delivery that this bridge was on his route. He ask me if I wanted to ride along with him and I was excited to ride in his big truck. The lady called my mother long distance to ask permission, but due to scheduling of my parents' return home, my mom said no. The truck driver would not be back before my parents arrived home. His truck was on the bridge when it fell and he lost his life. I was still at the house when his wife got the phone call and clearly remember her face going stone cold as she dropped the phone and fainted to the floor. That was a seriously troubled time for his family, especially that close to Christmas!!!
@@PurpleObscuration wow what a jerk
@Buck ey Hope you can increase you patience levels Come the revolution after the bankers , politicians , car parking attendants you selfish thoughtless pricks are next up against the wall
Isn't it something how fate works?. You weren't meant to be included so your life was spared. Just like the lady that backed up on the bridge and stopped on what became the edge. It wasn't meant to be!.
Life is fragile
I was a year and a half old. My grandfather responded to the area to help with recovery. I still live close to the area and have heard about the Silver Bridge my entire life. Sorry for your loss.
I need more content like this. This reminds me so much of old Discovery Channel and History Channel before it became all reality shows.
I recommend the show engineering catastrophes on Science Channel. The Science Channel is the last glimmer of hope we have for educational television. Practically every single series on that channel is super informative! Weakest efforts being What on Earth? and Strange Evidence which are both highly speculative until the closing minutes when they finally give you the actually answers lol
Maybe the US channels need to buy more UK content. This programme was made for the Open University in the UK!
just the facts THANK YOU GOOD DOC
Most people only want to watch a history show once or twice. Eventually, they have shown every possible show they can. After 20 years of programming, they have to go after viewership. I too miss the old History Channel and Discovery Channel. Plus the Biography Channel from 20 years ago.
@Coy Leigh that's soooo true!
It’s so nice to see and hear my Uncle Walters voice again. He’s passed on now and was a wealth of historical and natural information he’s much missed.
My condolences
Sorry for your loss :( But so glad to hear it along with you :)
I'm sorry.
RIP uncle Walter
He seemed like a chill, knowledgeable guy. My condolences but glad you had and appreciated him as your uncle.
As a child I remember crossing the Silver Bridge several times to visit relatives in Ohio. My Dad would always say" ok everyone hold your breath and pray in silence that we make it this time". My Dad never did trust the bridge.
Wow, I learned it had movement. That just doesn't sound good at all, plus no way to fix, I believe, the eye bars. I don't blame your Daddy. He sounds like a smart fellow.
I actually live in Pittsburgh and regularly cross a suspension bridge quite regularly. (Pittsburgh being divided by three rivers we have TONS of bridges.) They really are made to move though since your in motion you usually can't feel it much unless your stopped on an end or a heavy tractor trailer is passing near you. (It really bounces then!) It doesn't make me nervous generally unless I'm stopped at an end when you can really feel the movement. I say a lot of prayers then and so far so good. Unfortunately not really any other options in Pittsburgh, your going to need to cross at least one bridge pretty much anywhere you go.
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ Go away.
@@danistaab7152 - Hi neighbor!
@Andrew Langton You'll do more than believe that Jesus is Lord, you confess it with your own tongue. Repent and believe the Gospel. Flee from the coming wrath.
I remember when that happened. Dad was sent down there to help recover those poor souls that died. He was a volunteer fire fighter on Mt. Carmel's North Union Twnph Fire Dept (lifesquadman)
Thank you for his service, he found my great great uncle who died
My Family had crossed that Bridge the night before it collasped
Aaah, what a pleasure - to watch a video without any stupid unnecessary background music trying to make it appear cool and modern but really only competing with the speaker. And the speaker in this one is so good as well, so easy to understand. Thank you very much film editor
That is because this is a professionally produced piece of film.
I appreciate the professional quiet production. On some shows, the music is so loud you can't hear the narrator.
🙏🙏🙏
It's the open university They have university degrees for people to do at home And they used to have lectures on maths on at 12 to 5am every day in the uk. Just one man talking and writing equations on a black board. Good stuff to watch !
MUSIC FOR NOISE SAKE ruins many if not all docs. In a movie(Hollywood) the music is composed FOR the scene. In most docs, it's just music that someone liked or had some kind of unknown reason for being used. Lousy reason for it. Even in movies the music doesn't always add to the experience, but at least there was an attempt to make it add. Remember "Silence is golden".
Walter Carpenter was my high school Biology teacher. Later, I considered him a good friend. Whenever anyone greeted him and asked how he was doing, his reply was always: "Better Than I Deserve". As a resident of St. Marys for much of my life, I will always remember the original Hi Carpenter Bridge. And the new bridge which replaced the one which was closed, was opened to traffic the same week as I reported for active duty in the US Marine Corps, 1977. Mr. Walter Carpenter was an authority on local history and a good man. He is missed by family and friends.
I was also serving in the Marine Corps in 1977. 🙏✌️ SEMPER FI 🇺🇲
@@augustinecerronejr7968I'm gay too
@kylekorona that's cool Bro, but I'm not Gay. No offense meant✌🏻
@@augustinecerronejr7968 don't be gay big daddy
@@kylekorona Right On✊️ Not my Cup of Tea🇺🇸🫡🖖
I am a Mechanical Engineer (BSME, MSME) with 40 years of experience and this is an excellent and interesting documentary! It's very sad to hear of this collapse and condolences to the families losing loved ones. At the same time, it is good that standards were established and implemented for inspection of bridges.
I'm curious about what seems to me to be a very low safety standard for live load. 1.5X seems really sketchy to me. I'm not an engineer but I did take three years of classes in structural and mechanical engineering in high school, and I remember my professors saying that bridges here in Canada were usually designed with 3.0X due to snow and ice buildup and just wear and tear over time. I'd love to know what the modern standards actually are for modern bridge designs.
@@jfever78 - I was watching a documentary on the Mackinac Bridge connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. The designer was Dr. David B. Steinman and I believe he employed a safety factor of 2x. With modern computer simulations and advancements in design engineering, a safety factor of 1.5 is probably suffice. Simulations, for example, can help identify high stress areas due to weight of vehicles, stress from ice, potential earth quakes, wind buffeting etc. Kind Regards.
@@jivepatrol6833 Yeah I'm actually very familiar with that bridge, having driven it many times in the passenger seat in my dad's cab over Freightliner in the 80s and then myself in the driver seat for the one year I had a learners permit myself. I still have a hard time believing that a 1.5X live load factor is sufficient. And while the chances of the bridge to ever be stacked from end to end with rigs that are all at max weight are extraordinarily slim, I can't help but very clearly remember my engineering professor drilling into us the fact that bridges now were all designed to 3.0X potential live load. Memory is a fickle and notoriously unreliable bitch though, so I'll have to do some of my own digging and see what I can find. If I do find anything of interest I'll post a link here for our mutual benefit. Thanks for your input and interest, regardless.
This was the day that Bridge Inspections commenced.
The Big Mac is the benchmark to this day. She will never go down.
This is the way to do a documentary: leave the viewer smarter after watching. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is Open University foundation course material for civil engineering degrees, so is primarily intended to educate.
@Kevin Prima my dad made steel for 45 yre. He could tell what it needed by the color of the heat liquid state!
@Cicliste- Not only "smarter" but definitely more actually ...concerned.
I’m not
AGREE
My grandfather was the first person to call the police about the bridge falling. As he lived right beside the bridge and watched it fall. The police didn't believe him until others called in. His name is Roy Sayre.
apologies for the notification, but did you mean your grandfather?
@@slickcorrosion yes, autocorrect or whatever you call it on these phones nowadays.
Nowadays it would be live streamed by a falling millennial/gen-Y for some extra clicks and fame. lol
"the silver bridge disaster's has a lasting legacy in Bridge safety" Which is why in 2019, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association found more than 47,000 bridges in the U.S. are in poor condition and in need of urgent repairs, but as of 2020 the US Congress has giving zero dollars to repair any of them....
Welp, fingers crossed for the next four years I guess
Meanwhile sending millions if not billions of tax payers money to foreign aid
Wow, this turned sour a LOT faster than most comments like this
The government collects taxes from sale of gasoline but puts the money in a general fund to distribute at their discretion. If the money collected from gasoline sales went entirely to our roads and bridges we would have the best in the world.
Which bridges?
This is a really great documentary. I like the no nonsense approach and the fact it isn't dumbed down but is still presented in a way that you don't have to be a structural engineer to understand what's going on. No propaganda, no bells and whistles, no unnecessary "pop art" graphics, just the story. This is a lost art.
you can thank the Open University, a British institution for remote learning. This video was part of a degree course in engineering.
Excellent comment. I agree with every point, particularly about the pop art graphics.
This is one of the reasons that certain load-bearing elements of railroad locomotives are never painted. That paint will hide otherwise visible cracks in the metal.
The bridges? In Pittsburgh they're not painted because they're made from cor-ten steel
Correct. A former employer went really big suddenly in the trucking industry and got the container contract from Vancouver to Tacoma. I visited his year and couldn't understand why his crew were painting the well used container trailers with such thick, blue paint. Now I know. He was covering up the cracks.
Grease those pins!
Good point
@@dwightstjohn6927 structural paint? lol
It is wonderful NOT to have irritating music and hysterical narration !
I love disaster documentaries, but I hate when they are overdramatized. This one is perfect.
And the opinionated comments annoy me alot
High five for this comment.
And the constant of repeating of details all the way through badly made modern doc's is terrible. This is spot on.
Couldn't agree more buddy/buddette
Great documentary! This is the gold standard for how to make a proper documentary. And thanks for no dramatic music! 👍🏻💕
Here after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
Also I'm a Baltimorian as well.. this video popped up in my feeds
You should look up the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse of you aren't already familiar. Just like the F.S.K. Bridge collapse.
LOVED LOVED LOVED this production. the script and all the speaking roles were so novel. it avoided the "slick" quality that so many docs have today. it had a simplicity that modern docs eschew. the amateur, or should i say non professional speakers gave a wonderful feeling of unpretentious reality. the professional narrator spoke with clarity and authority and never upstaged the subject. she was great. very impressive. thank you.
You should realize this video would have been produced as part of an engineering degree programme at the Open University in the UK. There was thus no need for any commercial or marketing angle.
Wow that woman who had the wherewithal to back up on the bridge came so close. I couldn’t imagine seeing a bridge fall out of the sky inches from me and where I had just been. Crazy.
My grandparents drove over that.bridge two hours before it collapsed. They lived down river from Point Plesant. I was 22.
December 15th, 1967 was a Friday. I had been in Charlotte, WV at the DuPont Plant in Nitro and was returning to Athens, Ohio where I was a Professor of Chemical Engineering. I had left the meeting mid-afternoon after I used the company phone to tell my wife I was on my way home. and approached the bridge from the south. I recall that traffic was quite heavy with a combination of semis, dump trucks, pickups and many sedans. Traffic was pretty much stop and go. I think I got to the stop light at the foot of the bridge some a couple of minutes before 5. I turned right at the light and headed toward Athens, arriving home a little after 6. My wife came rushing ou the door. "Did you cross the river?" she asked."Of course I said. "The bridge collapsed an hour ago!" I may have been one of the lucky few who had crossed the bridge just moments before it collapsed.
This, my friends, is a real documentary..... no guesses, suppositions, or ancient aliens...... a forgotten art of fact based storytelling!
No fake news here. CNN was just a twinkle in Ted Turner's eye then...
No music either
Keep watching videos, you'll end up in the alien and robot voice section.
Joseph T. Not with open university. This is actual studying material. Watch enough of this, do the required cause work and you’ll end up with a qualification.
Psibug I just drove over the Sagamore bridge shaking like a dog shitting razor blades
I'm not a naturally mechanically inclined person, but I found this documentary and its explanations and graphics easy to understand and interesting. Thanks for the upload.
... times 2!
@@tracer740 Times 3! ..No complex Physics or equations...just easy to understand info.
Times 4, although I am a mechanically interested person. Still it's an art to explain it with straightforward wording. Great!
Hello Daisy how are you doing today.
I remember this as a child, as we were traveling from California to Texas to be with our grandparents on Christmas. We heard it on the car radio. What a sad day.
What an absolute joy to see a documentary of such high calibre! Facts, expert analysis and participants recalling their personal experiences of the actual incident all make this a delight to watch. The viewer learns rather than be entertained by the unfolding examination of relevant information.
I like the no nonsense style. No bombastic music, no replace of information with drama...
You will really enjoy most BBC doca then. Go and have a look at BBC Horizon docs, there are some brilliant ones.
My grandfather died on the bridge. Thank you for this great documentary.
during construction or the collapse?
RADIUM CLOCK He died when it collapsed.
One of my fears is dying on a collapsing bridge
Why lie about such a random thing? 🤦♂️😆
@@snavisTM hey shut up fucker you dont know this guys life so shut your mouth
This caused my lifelong fear of bridges. Hard thing to overcome when you’re an over the road truck driver.
Tunnels and bridges scare me too
Don't cross the Ambassador bridge in Windsor,Onatario.I was stuck on it with 68,000lbs gross going in to Canada.Traffic was stopped and you can feel the bridge move up and down like it was breathing.Totally weird feeling
I'm terrified of bridges especially ones like this. My heart skips beats everytime I have to cross one.
That female narrator was brilliant - she sounded cool, authoritative and attractive to listen to. Well done, Open University.
did anyone catch this event in a movie called, "Moth Man"...? My grandmother lived on the Ohio side, in a house located on the hill facing the bridge at the time it fell. She told me her experience of the bridge falling. She was a house wife at the time, my grand father drove a greyhound bus to Chicago, and back everyday. She told me that she didn't see it break apart, but had a birds eye view of the horrific aftermath. She said she could not hold back tears then, and when she had told me about it in 1975. She had explained to me what is said here, that the people, the area, was so proud to have such a grad size bridge. How important it made them feel to what was happening in the US back then.
I also thought so (from the Moth Man movie)! How interesting to hear that you have such first hand connections to the incident! Although, I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing it.
My Grandmother lived about 7 miles up river in Cheshire Oh. They knew many of the victims.
"The Mothman Prophecies" , starring Richard Gere.
@@Thoralmir the reason I watched it was I knew a guy that supplied some of his Buicks for the movie.
I was born in Gallipolis in 93. I moved away when I was 4 but it always fascinated me the events that took place in this area.
Three years before the collapse of that bridge I drove a truck across it pulling a ten foot wide house trailer. I was alarmed by the noise and shaking. I never crossed it again.
Haha i was thinking the same thing
The old Pomeroy bridge shook also.
And he is on KZhead 😁 knowing how to make a comment.
@@billydarley6925 The bridge collapsed 52 years ago.
But how did you get the next house trailer across the river!? Did you float it across?
This was so informative, I learned a lot. I always wondered how they built these suspension bridges without pulling one of the main supports down horizontally before they could couple it with the other side.
What a great team! From the fella that was there back when the bridge opened to the contemporary engineer of today with the head of the museum to tie the report together and, of course, not forgetting our brave survivor lady (I liked her) to the narrator who was clear and concise. I think those "sister bridges" are outstanding and I'm very interested to see them today. Thank you very much for a fine show. \m/
This how you make a documentary! Whoever enjoys this will like The History Guy! Thanks for no stupid music!
I agree about the music thing. In my opinion, the music can totally ruin the whole thing. It’s usually so loud that I can barely hear the commentator!
History guy is bad ass!!
@@whitemage024 --- Agreed. The History Guy, and this channel are two of the best.
An amen for that!
Excellent Comment
My Uncle was the head engineer in charge of putting the wreckage back together to find the cause of the bridge failure. I crossed that bridge many times and only a few days before it went down. It never crossed my mind that the bridge was dangerous.
I’m sure that thought never crossed through the mind of the people on the titanic and the world trade centers. Never crossed their mind. So every time I cross a bridge I wonder how much longer they will stand and who inspected it last.
Great video. Especially appreciated Jack Fowler's commentary. Very clear, informed, and honest. E.g., describing how the sister bridge didn't need to be shut down, given the difference in usage, but emotions were so high after the silver bridge disaster it was hopeless trying to convince them.
As a 20 something adult I’m beyond glad we live in an age where building technique have had thousands of years of practice, and newer ones have had a few decades. It sucks those people passed but hopefully we learned and do better
Unfortunately we don’t even do as well. With the amount of government corruption attached to money , not only do we rarely build a new bridge but we don’t maintain the ones we have.
@@williammorris3303 THANK YOU 🙏 hit the nail man
In Lake Charles, LA, the I10 Bridge is definitely on borrowed time. It's the scariest bridge I have ever been on. I always had to get a running start to make it to the top and over it. They are supposed to build another one, but they always put it on the back burner.
My parents crossed the Silver Bridge just 1 day before it collapsed. I remember them saying that the swaying of the bridge just didn’t seem right and it really scared them. My dad stated that he would never cross that bridge again. Well, he was right on that one. I wonder if the ramps are still standing on either sides. I guess I need to make a trip to find out. Great video.
Forget it, put it out of your head your family made it and that is all that matters.
Your dad is/was very smart.
@@kam2894 🇺🇸 I agree. Sometimes it’s good to back in history and just get a feel for what my dad was thinking. We know that the story had a good ending though. I’m a history nut anyway.
To save you a trip the ramps have long been removed, a new bridge called the Silver Memorial Bridge was constructed down river a little. The highway on the west side actually dead ends where the ramp would have been. On the east side there's a parking lot and a plaque marking the spot but that's all that's left of silver
Did you catch a glimpse of the Moth man?
I drove my mama across that bridge one day and remarked, "Mom, some day this old bridge will fall" as we experienced a trembling and scary swinging of it from side to side as we crossed. Mama replied, "No. They built this bridge too well." I crossed that bridge hundreds of times and was terrified each time. There was a traffic light on the WV side which caused the bridge to be loaded with cars and trucks for extended periods. I remember seeing the newspaper accounts after the fall with pictures of Christmas packages floating in the water. How haunting and sad that was.
So cool to have someone write first hand accounts of history.
@ probably because she said they experienced a trembling and scary swinging of it from side to side.
Thank you for sharing this tragic personal experience. God bless you.
Sounds like bad design , survivor's are so lucky .
Pat Melton how horrible 😢
Excellent narration, great presentation. Thank you. The suspension towers of the Silver Bridge seem remarkably fragile compared to the lengths of the spans they're supporting.
I live about 30 miles from the this bridge. I remember hearing stories from the dive teams that went down to recover bodies and such. Many were getting stuck in the muddy muck on the bottom. One particular diver described seeing a catfish big enough to swallow a grown man just swimming back and forth in front of him. He stayed he poked at it with a hooked pole he was using and it just swam off.
Hi 🙋♂️
always find it amazing how, in any engineering disaster, the experts reconstruct as much as possible to find the fault. Very similar to plane crashes, no matter how large or small the component, every piece is used to tell the tale of disaster.
The American Bridge Company built the Hercilio Luz Bridge in Florianópolis, Brazil in 1926. It has a similar design of the Silver Bridge and was reopened last year after it was revitalized. I monitored some part of the progress as Civil Engineering student and it was fantastic.
I was 9 years old when this collapse happened..My Mother cried and my Dad shook his head.. They knew several people that died on that bridge.. I'll never forget that day..
In those days people knew each other.
I see the mothman?
I was 8 and I remember the news and my parents reaction. Very sad time close to Christmas.
THAT IS SO SAD, I know it says Danny Jones, but we have yahoo internet or youtubeinternet and it only shows his name. Mine is Shelley and I am so sorry for their loss.
Great description of how a suspension bridge was supposed to work. This was a great documentary.
The McClean truck at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="725">12:05</a> was driven by a friend of my fathers. He was about 15 minutes behind him. Dad had to stop and was delayed and was trying to catch back up to his buddy when he drove up on this disaster. If he had not had the minor issue he had there would have been 2 McClean trucks in that mess!
ram2791 that be a scary thought you can’t get out of your head. That I could have been on it thought
Timing is an amazing thing.
thx for sharing that!. was rtng from leave in Navy headed bk to Dallas Tx.. i had alredi eaten, but in my head, i kept hearing STOP, so i gave in, stopped n had apple pie at a shoneys, get back in head out, as i crest the hill to cross abridge to get into Dallas, a THICK GREY FOG had enveloped that bridge on a CLEAR SUNNY DAY, a bunch of people died in a fiery pileup on I-20....one of the worst in texas history, i cal that the GRACE OF ALMIGHTY GOD!.. Would marry a year later n have a son! Could write a short book on this kinda stuff!
:'(
Hi! Hi! (It's The Mothman. Say "Hi") Drove my Chevy, to Point Pleasant 'cuz Point Pleasant is nice etc.
Just superb. I was in grade school in West Virginia when the Silver Bridge fell and subsequently became an engineer, but I never informed myself about the final causality. Well done.
Extraordinarily clear and useful, an incomparable teaching device. Thank you
I live 30 miles from Pt Pleasant, and it still amazes me every time it comes up, someone was waiting to go over it, or knew someone that just went over it, or had a friend that had a friend that was near it....
I remember reading an analysis of the Silver Bridge collapse shortly after it happened and a significant factor was mentioned that was not included in this documentary. This was the use of "rocker towers". When a suspension bridge is at rest all of the tension and compression forces are in equilibrium. When acted upon by outside forces (wind, deck load, etc.) this equilibrium is disturbed and various parts of the bridge move until a new equilibrium is established. This documentary made a point about how much movement there was in the bridge and this was an intended part of the design. In order for there to be movement without excessive stress in the bridge components there has to be a mechanism to allow for this moment. Some suspension bridges have rigid towers and the cables or chains can move a bit lengthwise through the top of the tower as required. The Silver bridge was different. The chains were attached in a fixed position at the top of the towers and the bottoms of the towers were on "rockers" so that they could tilt along the the length of the bridge to redistribute the stresses. This worked OK under normal conditions, but when eyebar 330 failed there was a very large asymmetrical force on the tower and, being pretty much unrestrained at the bottom, it simply fell over and collapse of the entire bridge ensued. If the towers had been rigidly attached to the piers (and other means of redistributing stresses used) it is possible that the collapse would have only been partial rather than complete - and probably many fewer people would have died.
"rocker towers" Strength and materials class in college never mentioned this design. Always ridged towers and let the cables move over top or through. Think the math would get complicated as you got a few degrees bend in a tower.
Vincent I would have to agree with your reply in partial. The excessive movement also did something else that was detrimental, it set up vibrations. These constant vibrations not only promoted the failure, but also acted as a cutting movement on connection points. This promoted stress points. When you look at 330, from my machinist background. I see a total failure of the steel and its designed connection. What I think that was done? Nobody tested the steel for strength, or if they did, they fudged the numbers of total failure point. Who ever did the quality assurance/ quality control did not do there job from an engineering standpoint! The bridge lasted under 50 years, that is a total failure.
Thank you for this engineering lesson. I wondered why it fell the way it did. That completely explains it.
There is no way, you could build a rigid tower, capable of supporting a 700 ft span, without anchorage on the back side. Either the tower will fail, or the cable will fall from the tower - leaving the tower standing, but the roadway will collapse either way. No matter the towers, if you lose one of the two main suspension elements on a suspension bridge, the bridge is gone.
@@MissionaryForMexico You sounded credible until "there job"
I was 11yrs old in July 1967. I rode across the bridge twice the same day. I still remember the way it shook. When I heard about it falling later that year I got a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Bill Brown I was 10, we'd come back to Ohio from a rafting trip in W.Virginia a couple months before the collapse.
Because you knew you were right all along. And innocent lives were lost.
It's amazing how close to being safe this bridge was. The designer was right about the strength of the materials and the design. But because of the combination of water pooling, corrosion, and work hardened members the crack was created. If any of those three things had not been, it would have been fine. This goes to show that using a higher factor of safety may be overkill for the structure overall, but it comes in handy when you get these unlucky combinations of problems that are hard to predict and greatly weaken a single spot.
Weakening a single spot, so like how the heck did the entire bridge collapse so quickly? virtually vanishing in like one minute, more than a little weird, especially when factoring in mothman and how deep is that river anyways?
Thank you. I grew up just up river from the Silver Bridge and recall its failure when it happened. This topic is certainly timely given the raging debate about infrastructure in this country. It’s time to recall the lessons tragically learned from this piece of history. I pray that our leaders & law makers revisit this incident during their debates and do what’s right for us all.
I remember when I was a lot younger my grandfather talking about the Silver Bridge. He hauled cars a crossed it 100+ times from Michigan to Charleston And I remember him talking about him crossing the bridge the day before it collapsed. He said he heard a very loud pop and the bridge shook in a way it never did before.
Omg thats horrible!
GrandPOP
This is my hometown. Excellent review here. I did my a report on this in my engineering senior paper many years ago, and micro fish and newspaper searches were all I had . The only thing I will add is that the Christmas shopping was heading to Gallipolis Ohio side and had the bridge loaded on one side significantly more than the other side (coming in to point pleasant, WV) and that contributed to exposing the flaw on the suspension pin. I absolutely love the information here, well done, Thank you!
Hope you got an "a"
Louis Blazejewski Thank you. I'm sure I did, but to be honest I don't remember, but it's one of the very few times I learned something doing a research paper.
@@louisblazejewski7884 they did not receive an 'A' in spelling though good buddy! 'Microfiche' is the word. Micro fish are those little things in a foot bowl that chew the dead skin off one's feet! Hehehe...
@@GaryNumeroUno iam sorry i dont know what you are talking about i sometimes get confused and reply to the comments instead of the video but i dont remember commenting on this
No worries Louis. Just trying to lighten the mood. Stay safe and happy. Cheers
Thank you for posting this, it's a pleasure to watch such a well made video. Deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the victims.
Love this video and coming to see it. Being from the town and hearing all the stories. 54 years ago but still very fresh in the memories.
Thanks for this well produced documentary! The lady saved her life by backing up! The tensile strength of the "shiny metal" was below standard and the rust accumulates and the failure occurs. Condolences to the families of those killed in that tragedy.
I remember one man said it hit home to him when he realized the girl who normally sat next to him in class wasn't there. She and her mother had died in the Silver Bridge disaster.
So sad and I guess I missed that in the program.
Thank you for this interesting documentary; it gives me a new respect for engineers and those involved in solving structural problems. I sincerely hope that the remarkable investigation into the failure of the bridge, and the integrity of the response, are treated in this manner in 2022. It was so beautiful really.
I’ve always been fascinated by the video of the bridge waving around. I remember as a kid not being able to understand how that could happen.
I remember watching this tragedy on the Today Show, they showed them bringing up cars that were crushed and twisted and I will never forget seeing a hand with fingers splayed out sticking out of one the twisted crushed cars. That image haunted me for years. I’ve never forgotten it.
I saw a picture of something similar from the Cypress Structure that collapsed in the Loma Prieta earthquake. A hand, in one of the crushed cars. It looked like the person had put their hand up to the ceiling of the car as if to protect themselves. I know what you mean about the image never leaving you...
so sorry for such a horrible memory.
Hello Becky how are you doing today.
@@dannyjones4044 Hello Danny how are you doing today.
I crossed that bridge so many times from 1961 to 1966 that it's impossible to remember how many. I was in Vietnam when it collapsed and I could hardly believe it.
That must have been completely surreal, off fighting a war where people were dying and to find out about mass casualties at home. Thanks for your service sir!
@@nathanbbyrum And I thank you, sir. I appreciate your reply.
@@GoteeDevotee I think about them more than you can ever know.
@@michaelhendrickson5287 I can appreciate your situation as best anyone not in your shoes might. What a horrible situation to deal with what with everything else going on in your immediate situation. The country owes you and others who were put that needless, crazy situation a deep and sincere apology. My own Uncle, from Petersburg, received two purple hearts. Hardly a deposit of payment for the years of nightmares, anxiety and what is now called PTSD. To this day it is known in our family to never awaken him suddenly. It breaks my heart that a happy fun loving young country boy was forced to fight under the circumstances that you, he and others were dropped into. To this day a war fought in jungle terrain has never been won. They had to have known that back then. Because of this and more, I offer you my sincerest gratitude for your service to our country.
GoteeDevotee The government drafted them. They are forced to go.
I'm always impressed how professional Investigators in tragedies like this can sift thro the twisted chaos and physical aftermath and can quite literally pinpoint the cause(s). Lockerbie and the King's Cross Underground also spring to mind as examples of dogged forensics.
Esp “ political “ ones like those you mentioned
As a college student working in sumner for Davy tree, i drove his bridge several times with a truck. Remember it well. I was shocked when it fell. Very interesting film make when we all spoke slower with proper English.
My friend drove semis. His employer insisted he drive over this bridge with loads 28000 pounds heavier than permitted. The bridge sagged and swayed. He finally refused a to cross that bridge overweight, and was fired. A couple weeks later.....
Deckard Cain The trucking companies which force employees to violate weight limits endanger everyone because they damage the bridges and the damaged bridge s might not fall then but will in the future. That company needs to be put out of business and fined heavily! Innocent people died for someone else’s mistake
That could’ve been a contributing factor that caused the initial stress crack/fracture that ended in failure. Corrupt employers are disgusting. I hope his company has gone under and is no longer around. If it is you should report them.
Thanks for sharing this. It is amazing how we are interdependent on each other, sometimes in surprising ways. Consider people who make parts or assemble products that effect security and safety. What if they cut corners or allowed themselves to compromise their values. Values are important. As far as the engineers and builders and examiners and all the people working to build a better bridge, seems they are doing the best that you can. It is heartbreaking when we do our very best and then something happens. I guess that is where forgiveness comes in.
...and people wonder why there's so much red tape. Scumbags like that employer are the reason.
@@LaDivinaLover whos job was it to protect the bridge load weight ? You guessed it the local municipal safety office . So the blame rested on the elements rather than on the human failure . Dont think it didnt get brought up .
This small documentary was extremely well done. Thank you.
This documentary is a BBC programme it was not made by the person who has put it up. Andy England
I am just acknowledging the quality and thanking them for the upload.
I like the female narrator's style.
Agreed. Good clear statement of pertinent factual information from a variety of viewpoints, without a bunch of whipped up hype or useless drama.
The open university is just that, a university. It specialises in "home learning" and these programs were commissioned to support the coursework at a time when the internet did not exist. They used to be broadcast off-peak; usually early morning or late evening, back in the days before TV became a 24 hour service.
I love these kinds of documentaries. They are rare nowadays.
I remember this. I was a 10 y/o kid living in West Virginia when the news bulletin interrupted whatever we were watching. It was surreal to watch especially knowing most people who were on the bridge were out Christmas shopping.
The older sister of this bridge, and one of these three already built in the world, (Hercílio Luz) in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, which is still standing, was recently restored. Cars went back on December 30, 2019, after 28 years banned due to cracking in one of the four eyebars support. Hercilio Luz may not have collapsed because it had four supporting eyebars, unlike Silver Brigde which had only two.
Thank you for posting this
The narrator, Francesca Hunt, is brilliant. *I wish she could narrate EVERYTHING!*
"Thank you for the compliment, agent 47."
i like her voice too. clear and soothing.
Voice i could listen to all day, so pleasant.
Francesca 's sister India Fisher is equally as captivating
themirrorsofmymind yes she speaks correct understandable English. Not like the many clowns who make up their own pronunciation or even individual words.
Living in Pittsburgh, I've walked over the bridges before and they honestly feel more stable than most other bridges I've been on. Didn't realize they were so old but they'll definitely be able to last for a while longer
That lady seems so calm and collected talking about it, but I cannot imagine the horror of just getting on that bridge as you start to see the other end of it falling and crashing into the water, and wondering how you are going to back out of there in time!!!
This is terrific. The narrator is outstanding.
One terrific channel complimenting another one. Nice to see.
No drama. No superbole. No exaggeration. And a lovely English accent. Excellent
It wasn't until I read this complimentary comment about the narrator, that I even thought about her. Which says everything, a narrator shouldn't impose themselves on the narrative. Excellent little programme. They also say you never notice a good football (soccer for some) referee. Though these days probably impossible with VAR and all the technology. How on earth did I drift into that.
Is she Diana from the Hitman series ? It's like I hear her saying "Hello 47..."
The narrator's use of RP is quite good. The best clarity, meaning and context is given using such accents.
I was surprised at how thin I bars that were supporting the tremendous load on the silver bridge. Even my basic common sense would have questioned the wisdom of an entire bridge relying on that thin piece of steel. The lady that backed up was one quick thinking lucky lady.
I too noticed that and the size of the bolt seem inadequate.
It was some VERY quick thinking on her behalf. However, I found it strangely interesting that her car stalled as she was backing off of the bridge.. I can't even begin to imagine the odds that, of all the times that this COULD happen, it was at this very moment in time that it did.. Things like this really lead one to question if life truly is as random as most of us believe it to be..
@Giacomo Esposito - You must not have lived a lot of things in your live to have not yet realized how "coincidences" are common during big events. And almost all accidents are just "many unprobable things which happens at the same times", which is MANY coincidences, and fact is: it happens MANY time EVERY day... Stop being mystic, read science books, LIVE do things with PEOPLE, and you'll realized that coincidences are severely commons.
Giacomo Esposito Her car was possibly a manual transmission. Reversing in a panic while the bridge in front of her is collapsing, I’d be surprised if she didn’t pop the clutch and stall out.
@@garryiglesias4074 - Wow, listen to you - acting as if you have even the slightest idea who I am, or what I know...
I watched a movie years ago titled the Mothman Prophecies with Richard Gere as the star actor. This bridge and Point Pleasant was the subject of that movie.
My dad was a fire fighter on the South Charleston fire dept. in the 60's. He and two other off-duty fire fighters took the dept. boat up there the next day to help search for bodies. Always been fascinated with the bridge.
There are actually a number of these same amazing i-beam supported suspension bridges in Pittsburgh. Another one which similar in design to the Three Sisters (albeit with a much narrower pedestrian walkway) is the 10th Street Bridge spanning the Monongahela river on the southern side of downtown. Beautiful bridge.
Factor of safety of 1.5? In a corosive environment, without regular lubrication, under fatigue loading, and using medium tensile steel ? 1 The steel should have had enough nickel in it to prevent brittleness in sub zero temperatures. 2 There perhaps should have been a zinc plating on the steel to protect it from corrosion. 3 The links should have been bead blasted so that the surfaces were under compression. 3 The joints should have been regularly lubricated with something to keep water out. 4 There should have been at least 3 if not 4 links in each chain, so that loss of a link would not overload those remaining. 5 I think a softer steel would be preferable, that way if anything breaks the overloaded parts will bend and/or stretch instead of snapping. 6 The factor of safety should have been much higher. 1.5 is for millitary aircraft, 3 is for bridges. I wouldnt mind betting a substantial sum that there were a few cracks developing on the Hi Carpenter bridge when it was disassembled.
Well summarised
A single point of failure is inexcusable. The Pittsburgh bridges were designed and built right.
I grew up right next to the foreriver bridge in Quincy/Weymouth, Mass, it spanned the river between Weymouth and Quincy, as a kid we used it as our own swimming and jumping place, it was a draw bridge and you could feel slight movement from trucks and buses going by, but I always felt secure, we take for granted it'll be safe, thank you for a great doc on this bridge collapse, we all can relate to bridges, there such a big part of our world. 🙏
This is not a documentary per se. It is more a tutorial and very well done. I was a student in the early days of this Open University, studying the Humanities and I can vouch for the quality in the 70s at least, from which this is taken,. No bells and whistles, no dramatics, no fuss, just good old-fashioned teaching and learning.
Man.. when I first saw the design of this bridge I thought, this is a terrible design.. But after learning more about the bridge, I started to think that this was a terrific design, just had a couple fatal flaws that went unnoticed.. It really makes you have immense respect for the designs that do work and do last.
I remember driving from Columbus, Ohio to Huntington AV a week or so after the Silver Bridge fell, and finding a tow or three mile backup at the Huntington Bridge, about forty miles from the Silver Bridge. Turned out everyone was waiting until the car ahead had gotten more than halfway over before accelerating so that there were only two or three cars on the bridge at a time. we were terrified.
I definitely can understand their fear
My grandfather worked for the DOTD of Louisiana as a bridge inspector for 30 years. No bridge he ever inspected fell, though some did have issues. It’s a critical job that most treat as an inconvenience.
Nice overview of the first steps towards risk based maintenance as the baseline for structural integrity.
My grandmother went over this bridge 30 minutes before it collapsed. She had a hair appt her friend took her to and sadly her friend was coming back over the bridge when it collapsed.
So happy they didn't use music.
Wish they had used a more "generic", or accent free narrator though!
Yea, what a relief.
I never thought about that,not having background music, probably why I enjoyed it so much and left with more understanding of this disaster. Glad they didn't mention moth man either. I'm a fan of moth man but I think not having him or theme music added so much!!
There's no such thing as an accent free voice, everyone has an accent. I suspect what you mean is you want an American accent because that sounds generic to you. As an English person this narrator sounds generic to me. An American accent might sound normal to you but it's still a different accent to everyone else.
@@rubicon3atoz922 by saying generic you probably mean the accent of your native village. better thank your god that they had not used what is "generic" for myself.
Great presentation, including quality and relevance of interviews.
“Cars and Lori’s weight have gotten heavier over time” Leave my Aunt Lori outta this! Lolo
Lol, the 1970's boats are today's SUV,don't miscalculate that today's average family may have less members but the increased average weight per member offsets the quantity.
@@DG-sf9ei I drove a 1968 Cadillac in the early eighties, and the title listed five thousand pounds for its weight. So not sure about your point. Cars were much larger back then.
what a very informative and tragic discussion about this bridge failure. It seems that we always have to learn from accidents in order to make things better. I wish it were possible that we would engineer in safety protocols for things before they are built. I'm amazed at how the investigators were able to piece together the broken bridge and find the culprits responsible for the failure. Tremendous work in doing this without very much technology.It is a testament to people who died that every bridge now is inspected on a regular basis and they are maintained.
Extremely well done the narrator's tone and vocalization is excellent.
Pretty sure she is of foreign descent. Foreign dialect naturally is more interesting when it comes to narration.
@Nicky L no American is going to understand your brilliant joke!
The Open University! Such great content and so well presented. I often stay up late to watch OU programmes on BBC.
Hello Mary how are you doing today.
Living on the Ohio River I have seen several similar bridges between Pittsburgh and Louisville and most were built within a few yrs of each other in the 1920s. The one in Madison Indiana was very similar to the one at Point Pleasant . It was replaced about 8 yrs ago I believe
The guy who made the Brooklyn Bridge said “you need to make a bridge 10x Stronger than you think you need.”
I went with a similar theory forming concrete structures. Engineers would give me calculated tie bolt spacing that l never used once. I always overbuilt. It's served me well over the years never having a blowout. I have witnessed calculated blow outs. I used to say to the engineers it looks good on paper.
@@daveberswick5372 It sort of spooks me to find out that they "only" used a factor of safety of 2 on these bridges, and the one that failed supposedly had a F.O.S. of 1.5. Steel is cheap, lives dont have a price, why shouldnt the factor of safety be more like 5 or 6. I like your "overkill" methods!!
More importantly, as this disaster revealed, bridges need to be inspected. And I'm thinking that here in the UK we have bridges still in use that are older than the US !
63Turbo I thought that as well, however, I learned it’s impractical to have such a high safety factor because it would not be functional.
@@shakiraandmj actually, there's thousands of bridges in the U.S. right now that were built in the 50's and 60's using these lower factor of safety's, and we are paying for it now... one of these bridges failed catastrophically near where I lived. All it took was one support to break and down it went! fortunately, no one was killed but it was a darned scarey experience for the few that went down with the bridge. Steel is relatively cheap and so is concrete, and if it takes twice as much material to get a factor of safety into the 4 or 5 range vs 2, it is far cheaper over the long run to build the sucker the right way, than it is to cheap out and have to replace it twice, even if nobody gets killed!
This is extremely fascinating. You're earned a subscription. I look forward to viewing more of your content.
This Silver bridge falling with souls on it at the time is still as fresh in mind today in 2020.. as it was on the very day this bridge fell...The failure and the memory will never go away..and the souls that died on this day..
I live in Gallipolis Ohio. My parents had just gotten off of it when it fell. I wouldn’t exist!! Thank you for making this❤️
This is a great documentary: very sober, very reasonable.
@christosvoskresye IKR? And btw, where's the loud, inappropriate "music" playing overtop of the narrator? Something's wrong with this picture.
This is an educational film for engineering students with the OU. It isn't chasing advertising money.
There is a big difference between lack of maintenance as is the current problem than with metallurgy in the late 19th and early 20th century. Metallurgy in the early 20th century was still a tough field and there was much that wasn't known about how steel acted. Remember during WWII the Liberty ships would in extreme cold crack in half and they were retrofitted to resolve the problem. There are dozens of examples of this learning curve relative to steel manufacturing and its properties.
Thanks for explaining the process of trial and error, a process that has applied to every invention since the beginning of time. "Did you know when people first start doing some thing their typically bad at it at first?"
Ductile-brittle transition temperature for the average mild steel in the 30's/40's -10 deg C.
Look up the USS "Schenectady" she broke in half in the shipyard wet dock on a very cold night ( - 20). The Ductile - Brittle transition temperature for mild steels at that time (1940's) was around - 10 Deg C.
@@snavisTM it's not that they were bad at it, they were actually pretty good at metallurgy at the time. it's that the technology for smelting very pure steel wasn't possible yet. the engineers here failed to consider the increasing load of the bridge, and the steel they used was susceptible to stress-corrosion cracking, which was likely not known at the time of construction as the conditions for it are surprisingly precise.
snavis Trial and error aren’t really the best way to build bridges and ocean going vessels. A competent grasp of engineering and metallurgy can be very helpful in reducing the error part.
Really well done documentary. Well paced, well explained and competently reported. Fact filled but not boring which made for engaging content.
My father crossed the bridge several times the day it fell. As a very young child I cried every time we crossed the bridge because I just felt it was going to fall, it swayed.