RM requests cheaper bridge, gets cheaper bridge that fell down hours after being finished

[CB]

In a veritable shit slinging case, the Rural Municipality of Clayton's Dyck Memorial "Remember this dick" Bridge collapsed hours after being finished due to the engineers not figuring out how crap the ground the piles went into were. The engineer is facing a disciplinary hearing for not following the rules (??? what rules?). He's also being sued by the RM. The engineer said the RM told him not to do a geotechnical survey as they were cheap.

Which is apparently the case! The province offered a bridge and to cover all but $325k of costs to build it. The RM said the bridge was too expensive and overkill, and had their own bridge designed and built.

Which cost them about $325k.

Hm.

Anyway.

The new bridge to replace this old bridge will allegedly cost $1.9 million, which can be noted as "a lot more than they wanted to pay".

(source)

[CarsOfFortLangley]

@CB jump the gap!

[flatisflat]

@CB Whether up front or later down the line ....eventually, you'll have to cough up the money.

[ibRAD]

@CB I read about this today. It's literally the engineers job to say 'no, you can't just skip the survey'

[Just Jeepin']

It also says that after the bridge was built, the RM "installed gravel on the bridge to a depth of 13 to 16 inches with an average depth of 14 inches, which far exceeded the specified load."

[GibbsEmphasis]

@CarsOfFortLangley

tired: cheap out and see your (equally expensive) bridge collapse

wired: do the survey and have a functioning bridge

inspired: RAMPS

[mocamino]

@CB said in RM requests cheaper bridge, gets cheaper bridge that fell down hours after being finished:

The engineer said the RM told him not to do a geotechnical survey as they were cheap.

I'd almost believe that except for two things. 1) As @ibRAD pointed out, it's the engineer's job to insist on a survey, and refuse to do the design if those paying him won't do it. 2) Also from that article: In addition, the association alleges he failed to be "careful and diligent" in his design of bridges in four other Saskatchewan RMs including Scott, Caledonia, Perdue and Mervin. So we're supposed to believe he was undercut by his bosses in five separate instances? The dude needs to lose his license.

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@CB They turned down money from the Province? If they had accepted the money, I'm guess that would have come with extra scrutiny on the project no?

[MasterMario]

@mocamino

Gullacher and his companies

It kind of sounds like he's the owner of multiple companies? Maybe he is a contract engineer? Either way it sounds like a shit show all around.

On top of the RM deciding to skip the geotechnical survey they also appear to have put A LOT of excess load on the bridge.

It also says that after the bridge was built, the RM "installed gravel on the bridge to a depth of 13 to 16 inches with an average depth of 14 inches, which far exceeded the specified load

[CB]

@Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist I think that means the province would've handled everything but the final bit of cash for the project? Which seems like a... good deal? The RM thought the province's bridge proposal and budget were "too much bridge" for what they needed. So instead they got one that broke.

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@CB I'm thinking somebody's cousin wanted to get their hands into the cookie jar and they wouldn't be able to do that if the Province was involved.

[Urambo Tauro]

"The RM provided the instruction that no geotechnical investigation should be obtained as the RM was concerned about the additional cost and delay,"

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it

[Highlander]

@ibRAD Correct, I would not perform a design like that without geotechnical investigation. It's not worth it to greatly fuck up a project just to save the owner about $20,000.

[MasterMario]

@CB they also went with the lowest bid for the new bridge haha

The low-bidder and winner of the competition was Harbuilt Construction.

[flatisflat]

@Urambo-Tauro said in RM requests cheaper bridge, gets cheaper bridge that fell down hours after being finished:

"The RM provided the instruction that no geotechnical investigation should be obtained as the RM was concerned about the additional cost and delay,"

Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it

Or, don't get over it. Because the bridge collapsed.

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

@CB said in RM requests cheaper bridge, gets cheaper bridge that fell down hours after being finished:

Clayton's Dyck Memorial

Must have been massive......

[ranwhenparked]

@CB As a representative of the construction and building materials industry, I do want to assure people that this is not very typical. There are lots of bridges around and very seldom does this happen, don't want people thinking our infrastructure is unsafe

[MidEngine]

A bridge collapsed in Montreal and the province/municipality argued over who was going to replace it. So they closed the exit off the highway for four years. I don't know who ended up paying for it, but it's been replaced. Four years later.

[CB]

@ranwhenparked said in RM requests cheaper bridge, gets cheaper bridge that fell down hours after being finished:

@CB As a representative of the construction and building materials industry, I do want to assure people that this is not very typical. There are lots of bridges around and very seldom does this happen, don't want people thinking our infrastructure is unsafe

I know this is a serious post, but your wording reminds me of "The Front Fell Off".

[Future Next Gen S2000 Owner]

The picture doesn't seem to be a pile issue, rather a connection issue from overloading. For what it's worth, you can skip geotechnical surveys but only under very specific conditions.

For example, I'm leading a project that replaces a trash rake system. We've drilled about 25-50 bore holes on the site(it's relatively small). It is by far the most drilled place I've ever seen. We didn't have to do it but ultimately decided to as there was one place that was never drilled. Granted, my project was unique. You have to have very good data in a very small area to skip one.

Even when you do drill though, you can't drill everywhere. You only drill certain spots and interpolate between the locations.

[Sovande]

@ibRAD it's been my experience that the engineers job seems to be to hide language in the specs that absolve them completely of any liability regarding anything they have drawn.

I had an engineer tell me the other day that his drawing "matched exactly" the site conditions when we showed him that it was actually only one dimension he got right. His response was "well yes, but Note 6 stipulates that this is plan just for reference and the GC is responsible for designing blah blah blah."

We brought the engineer out on another project to explain his solution to a problem and after looking at the site he said "huh, this doesn't look like the plans. What do you suggest?" I told him I would suggest hiring a competent engineer to design the system in question.

I deal with these morons every single day.

[ibRAD]

@Sovande Sounds like you got the same engineer that designed the bridge mentioned above!

[gmporschenut also a fan of hondas]

@Just-Jeepin @CB figure 24' wide 2 lane road, from google maps 90' long, lower end 1' deep. /27 roughly 80 cubic yards, *min 2k pounds per yard. guestimate 160 tons of process.
I'm suprised it didn't collapse during construction.

[zipfuel]

@Highlander I don't see how you could actually calculate the size and quantity of piles required without knowing what you are putting them on/into. It's quite literally the underlying assumption for the whole thing so yeah the guy was negligent.
In such a case you could always apply the Victorian method of massive overkill.
"Well without knowing the ground conditions I've got be conservative and recommend 250 steel 12" micropiles driven 20' into the bedrock."
"For a 2 car garage?"

[Poor_sh]

@ranwhenparked as a resident of Rhode Island, our infrastructure is unsafe. Built through 75% corruption. And not maintained at all.