Negligence in New York: The I-90 Schoharie Creek Bridge Collapse

Hope everyone's week is good so far! Toss a Coin to your Researcher? www.patreon.com/BrickImmortar Here's my thoughts on the Miami Surfside Collapse: youtube.com/post/UgwF1Rx-sdzpQRuV2rx4AaABCQ Here's the Minnesota Bridge Collapse from 2007: https://youtu.be/xEPswDYbcnk

I’m still baffled as to why the consultants had any blame here- Because they didn’t call the right guy? State government clearly had the report, and they didn’t act on it when they had it. The consultants did their job - twice recommended the same urgent repairs and TWICE it was ignored by New York.

All infrastructure requires maintenance, whether it’s made of steel, concrete, or loose stones like riprap.

There's no greater feeling than finishing a Fascinating Horror video, feeling bored, and immediately seeing one of your videos in my recommended.

Those poor people, I cannot imagine how scared they must have been in their final moments as they got snatched away. I respect dedication of the recovery teams to bring some closure to the families, I detest the lack of conscientious of the people who failed to prevent this accident.

Most of us that get in a vehicle probably don't realize how many times we pass over these bridges and overpasses everyday never to think something this tragic could happen. It's scary to think how vulnerable we actually are.

I remember this incident well. I was living in Western New York and had a good friend who had crossed the bridge about 40 minutes before it collapsed, coming home from a visit with his parents. New York State went into panic mode and inspected every bridge in the state over the next couple of months. There were a huge number of bridges closed throughout the state and it took years to finish all of the replacements. I moved out of New York in 1992 and many bridges were still closed. It is a horrible tragedy that people had to die for the state inspectors to finally do their job after so many years of neglect. R.I.P. to all who perished that day, while your deaths were senseless they were not in vain.

Repeat after me: Always drive piles into bedrock if you want what you are building to withstand the multiple structure-destroying effects of water.

Man, the poor guy whose body wasn't discovered for over 2 freaking years. I'm amazed I've never heard of this bridge collapse before now.

I just missed this I was traveling back from UB to Kingston NY. I drove over it about 20 min before the collapse.. on the back I had to return to UB via route 20... I still think about it every time I travel over the new bridge...stay safe..

The reading of the names was quite solemn and sad. Very respectful way to memorialize them.

35 years ago. Wow. I played basketball against Kristie Peck. Her and her mother were on way to a shower somewhere in Western New York that morning. Their car is the blue fury turned upside down and smashed. I don't know if they drove out for there on the bridge when it collapsed but they didn't see it until water subsided. So tragic, she was only 22 years old.

It boggles my mind that one of the victims was found in the Hudson River.

This spread footing bridge foundation clearly relies on meticulous inspection and upkeep. If state inspections become lax, there will be trouble. I hope modern bridges use piles driven deep into the bedrock.

This was only a few miles away from my home in Fonda, NY. All the traffic from the Thruway was funneled through my little village on our river bridge. The heavy traffic caused the deck of our bridge to separate from the support pillars and the Fonda-Fultonville Bridge was shut down. They even had County Sheriffs stationed on either side to make sure no one even walked across it. It had to be torn down and replaced. The Schoharie creek is still a killer. About 10 years ago there was another flood that tore away the roadway on Route 5S that parallels the Thruway, a man's truck was washed into the river and he was killed. I don't trust anything along that waterway when it rains a lot.

I really have to wonder WTF was up with the repeated removal of the note about fixing the riprap... Feels like there must have been some sort of "I know better" stubborn idiot in the upper levels that kept feeling personally insulted by the reports. Can't imagine why else multiple reports of "dump some more rock around the base" was ignored.

I was in high school in upstate NY when this happened, and this was all over the local news. A news crew just happened to be shooting a report on the high water levels and flooding upstream of this bridge when it collapsed. They heard the first collapse and ran over in time to capture more of it as it happened. IIRC, three of the cars weren't on the span when it collapsed, but drove into the void as they were unable to stop in time. The slope of the highway there is such that, until you're on top of it, you wouldn't notice the bridge is missing. The near and far sides create the illusion of a continuous road. After the collapse they used the two bridges to the north, which at the time were Route 5S and an abandoned railroad bridge, to carry the re-routed Thruway until a new bridge could be constructed. You can still see some of the scars on the land from the temporary bypass diversion leading from the highway to the bridges on the east side, if you look at Google satellite view. It looks like, since then, 5S has moved to use the old railroad bridge (which is much more robust given what it was designed for) and the old 5S bridge carries the Erie Canal bike path now.

I used to live on where the Mohawk and Hudson river meet, it’s crazy to me that the one women’s body made it all the way into the Hudson. She had to go over a giant waterfall (cohoes falls) and through multiple man-made dams and water control systems

My husband Bob, worked for the NYS Thruway when this happened. On the Friday before , he had been promoted and this was his 1st assignment as a supervisor. One you never forget. I remember being in the Lake George area for a Rural Letters carrier meeting when Bob heard about this accident. Devastating for sure - So sad.

In April of '87 I was working as a whitewater guide on the Cattaraugus Creek in Western New York. I remember the rains 🌧 and the high water that spring. I was on the river that Sunday. I came home and saw the news. I couldn't believe something like that could happen in New York State. On the New York State Thruway.