Construction Equipment Guide
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Wed January 17, 2001 - Northeast Edition
(This article is part of “Construction Equipment Guide’s” new series of historical articles that chronicle major events that touched the lives of our readers.)
Before 10:45 a.m. on April 5, 1987, it was just a sleepy, rainy Sunday morning. Only a few cars sped over the 540-ft. (163 m) steel-and-concrete New York Thruway bridge spanning the rain-swollen Schoharie Creek.
At 10:45, with a roar, the center portion of the bridge fell into the water, carrying with it a tractor-trailer and several cars. Without warning, the bridge collapse on this, heavily-traveled highway confronted the nation.
Other sections of the bridge fell in the next few minutes, leaving just two sets of support pillars standing starkly amid the swilling waters, which were at least 10 ft. (3 m) above the normal 10-ft. (3 m) level.
Speculation centered on the high torrent, which may have shaken the foundations of the bridge’s pilings.
As part of the disaster preparedness, the State Health Commissioner David Axelrod arrived at the scene to coordinate rescue and other efforts, while New York Gov. Mario Cuomo ordered the New York State Thruway Authority to conduct an immediate inspection of all Thruway bridges, and the Department of Transportation to check other bridges throughout the state.
The bridge, at the town of Fort Hunter west of Amsterdam, was built in 1956, two years after the first sections of the Thruway opened. It was designed by Pavlo Engineering Co., NY, and Madigan-Hyland, NY, and built by B. Perini Contractors, NY.
Thruway engineers began an intensive effort to find what caused the collapse. “We’re poring throughout the files, looking at inspection reports and original designs on this bridge,” Spokesman Peter Slocum told Construction Equipment Guide at the time of the collapse.
Robert Donnaruma, then deputy chief engineer for the Thruway Authority, said the bridge underwent a major rehabilitation in 1981 and 1982, including removing and replacing unsatisfactory concrete, and waterproofing and repaving the deck. He said the work might have included repairs to the concrete substructure beneath the deck.
Donnaruma said the bridge was last inspected in April 1986, and found to be in good general condition.
The four-lane bridge was supported by four sets of H-shaped steel-reinforced concrete pilings, which were, in turn, on wider concrete foundations which divided the water.
Five sections of the highway were on top of the pilings. Each section included two steel beams connected by transverse connector beams. These supported a stringer system of lighter steel beams and a 12-in. (30 cm) thick layer of reinforced concrete topped by blacktop.
At the time, the bridge carried an average of 15,519 cars a day.
Donnaruma noted that investigators centered on the amount of pressure that the floodwaters put on the support columns, and also investigated the joints connecting the five decks.
Deputy Chief Engineer Donnaruma said there was “nothing particularly unusual about the design [of the Schoharie Creek bridge]; it is appropriate to the location and the era in which it was designed.”
Bridge experts had been anxious about the possible collapse of bridges ever since a 100-ft. (30 m) section of the Mianus River bridge on the Connecticut Turnpike collapsed in June 1983.
The Mianus bridge was built in 1958. It linked 12 sections with steel rods which were held in place by pins. Investigators said the weight of traffic — 100,000 vehicles a day — was too great for the pin-and-hanger design.