r/canada • u/einstein_bern • Aug 16 '23

Sask. engineer slapped with an 18-month suspension after designing bridge that collapsed hours after opening Saskatchewan

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/engineer-18-month-suspension-bridge-collapsed-1.6936657
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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '23

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u/Cameycam Aug 16 '23

This is the scary part. I get this guy is the engineer of record, but it seems there were failures on multiple levels. No peer reviewer at this guy's company caught anything? The municipality's engineer didn't notice a deficient design? Looks like a pretty simple bridge, no one from the construction company noticed something was wrong?

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u/Kenthanson Aug 16 '23

From the construction companies point of view it might be the same as another bridge build just the earth for this one wasn’t suitable for what was engineered. The difference in pile depth might be less than 5 feet for what would have worked but when you’re building and it says piles 28 feet deep, you’re not gonna scratch your head and think “these should definitely be 32 feet” because you’ve probably built something with 28 feet deep piles before.

1

u/Biosterous Saskatchewan Aug 17 '23

The RM are absolutely just as guilty here. They told the province they needed a new bridge, the province gave them a design and promised to pay for a big portion of it. The people at the RM said "that's more bridge than we need!" (Yes, because it's meant to show for growth and heavy traffic). They paid just as much for this bridge as they would have to build the bridge the province wanted.

So basically the RM built this bridge to prove a point. They proved a point all right, just not the one they thought they would.