Here's the story of an italian bridge https://pic8.co/sh/h0q15p.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi Ponte Morandi (English: Morandi Bridge), officially Viadotto Polcevera (English: Polcevera Viaduct),[1] was a road viaduct in Genoa (Italy), constructed between 1963 and 1967 along Italy's A10 motorway over the Polcevera River, from which it derived its official name. The bridge was widely called "Ponte Morandi" after its structural designer, noted engineer Riccardo Morandi.[2] The bridge was an engineering and architectural landmark since its construction. It connected Genoa's Sampierdarena and Cornigliano districts across the Polcevera Valley. It also provided a critical artery of European route E80, linking Italy and France. When a 210-metre (690 ft) section of the viaduct collapsed during a rainstorm on 14 August 2018, 43 people died — leading to a year-long state of emergency in the Liguria region, extensive analysis of the structural failure,[3] and widely varying assignment of responsibility. The remains of the original bridge were demolished in August 2019. The replacement bridge, the Viadotto Genova-San Giorgio ("Genoa-Saint George Viaduct") was inaugurated in August 2020.[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi#Infrastructure Investigative committee The investigative committee was to be chaired by Roberto Ferrazza and to have as an expert member Antonio Brencich. **However, these two committee members were immediately criticised for being among the signatories of the February 2018 government report that failed to impose precautionary measures on the weakened bridge.[30] On 23 August 2018, Brencich resigned from the inspection commission, and Minister Danilo Toninelli removed Ferrazza as the chair, for "reasons of opportunity in relation to all the institutions involved in this affair".[97]** NASA satellite data research Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, developed a method of analyzing satellite data to detect millimeter-sized changes. **Their analysis suggests that the deck between pier 10 and pier 11 had minimal movements until early 2015, and that between March 2017 and August 2018, a significant increase in structural changes occurred (noting that the collapsed pier is pier 9, without any consequential damage to piers 10 and 11, and the between deck).[98] The research and imagery were forwarded to the Italian authorities for further evaluation.** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Morandi#Replacement_proposals Replacement proposals By the mid-2000s, the A10 route through Genoa and over the bridge had become highly congested. The city council requested proposals for improvement of traffic flow through Genoa, with the Autostrade company in 2009 proposing the "Gronda di Ponente" project to improve flow, by moving traffic to a newly built Autostrada interchange system located to the north of the city. As part of the initial study and report, the Autostrade company measured that **the bridge carried 25.5 million transits a year, with traffic having quadrupled in the previous 30 years and "destined to grow, even in the absence of intervention, by a further 30% in the next 30 years". The study highlighted how the traffic volume, with daily queues at peak hours joining the Autostrada Serravalle, produced "an intense degradation of the bridge structure subjected to considerable stress", with the need for continuous maintenance.[44] The study showed that, in the option for improving what was termed as the "low gutter", it would be more economical to replace the bridge with a new one north of its current location, and then to demolish the existing bridge.[45][failed verification]** .... For years, decades, they knew there was a structural flaw, they knew the inevitable outcome of such flaw... Everybody knew And everybody knew that the entire regional economy relied on that bridge, millions a year using that bridge, where is the alternative? And evidently, closing the bridge until fixed, simply wasn't an option for any one involved... So? So they prayed that it didn't collapse on their watch, and they hoped "the men of the future" would find a solution... Turns out tthe men of the future didn't find a solution, and the inevitable happened.... .... Same deal Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's "just that", I'm saying you have that... And one thing leading to another... One day, it goes boom