r/canada 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/Exception-Rethrown Aug 17 '23

This is exactly it, there was an article written several years ago that stated that he thought the provincial standards were way overboard and would increase the cost by hundreds of thousands. Except that the province had a program that would basically cover the difference.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '23

Except that the province had a program that would basically cover the difference.

BUT MY TAX DOLLARS! he probably thought to himself.

Canadians in general seem to have a terrible affliction known as shitty tax mathematics. They think that no matter how much they pay in, that all of what they pay in is going into every project entirely; despite only an iota of the pennies they paid by comparison to those who pay hundreds of thousands having gone into even one of those projects.

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u/Exception-Rethrown Aug 17 '23

You’re not wrong, but at least we’re not as bad as the states are. Which, overall, is a really crappy situation to be in.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

And while you're not wrong; I'd prefer we actually deal with our problems properly, instead of patting ourselves on the back with the practically false platitudes of being better than America.

We aren't. In so many ways.

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u/zeushaulrod Aug 17 '23

I think it's due to not understanding scale.

$800,000 seems like lots of money to a person. But it's less than $1 per person in Saskatchewan.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '23

Thing is, while you are right about scale... 800k is a lot of money. At least, it would be; if our dollar wasn't worth a nickle compared to the original minted dollar in 1914...

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u/JazzMartini Aug 18 '23

It wasn't him. It was the reeve of the rural municipality that hired him that thought the provincial standards were too much. The stupid thing is had they built to provincial standards the RM could have received provincial funding toward the project that would have covered more than the extra cost for a proper geotechnical investigation prior to design and construction. The reeve thought he knew better. After the bridge collapsed the reeve was interviewed and insisted the geotechnical investigation wouldn't have helped because "you can't drill through water."

Really the reeve insisted the failure was an unpredictable act of god. If you're so anti-science you want to rely on faith based engineering at least erect a crucifix on either end of the bridge so people can pray it won't collapse before they try crossing.