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35w Mississippi River Bridge Failed, Thesis

The design firm is ultimately responsible, and should bear the brunt of the blame in this situation, and all of their designs should be reconsidered and recalculated at this point. If they had recalculated their results, double tested, or even asked for another opinion, the tragedy might not have occurred, and at the heart of this is the ethical question, was the miscalculation intentional, or was it just a huge mistake? That needs to be investigated now, along with the cause, so that the public is assured that flaws like this one do not continue, and if flawed bridges exist, they must be inspected and ultimately rebuilt to higher standards. Another important aspect of this ethical problem is the acceptance of "Structurally Deficient" bridges by the NTSB, where they know bridges have problems, but their rate those problems and decide whether the bridge can remain open or not. The nation's infrastructure is crumbling, there are probably many more bridges out there, just waiting to collapse, that is wrong, and the American people should not stand for it. The moral lesson here is that testing needs to be beefed up on engineering and design firms, and that there needs to be some sort of second opinion or oversight on the part of these firms, especially when they are designing structures that people will rely on for decades. This bridge was flawed from the start, and it was just an accident waiting to happen. The nation needs to make sure that does not happen again. Writer Flynn continues, "The blind eye that taxpayers and our elected officials have been turning to the imperative of maintaining and upgrading the critical foundations that underpin our lives is irrational and reckless" (Flynn). Ethically, the people...

"The Collapse." MyFoxTwinCities. 2007. 27 Oct. 2008. http://media.myfoxtwincities.com/special/35wbridgecollapse/index.htm
Condon, Patrick. "I35-W Bridge Collapse: Oberstar Bristles at Leak From Safety Board." Duluth News Tribune. 2008. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/76734/

Editors. "I-35 Bridge Collapse, Minneapolis, MN." U.S. Department of Transportation. 2008. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.dot.gov/affairs/factsheet080207.htm

Flynn, Stephen. "Minn. Bridge Collapse Reveals Brittle America." Popular Mechanics. 2007. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4219981.html

Sofge, Eric. "5 Engineering Lessons From the New, Reopened Minnesota Bridge." Popular Mechanics. 2008. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4285220.html

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References

Author not Available. "The Collapse." MyFoxTwinCities. 2007. 27 Oct. 2008. http://media.myfoxtwincities.com/special/35wbridgecollapse/index.htm

Condon, Patrick. "I35-W Bridge Collapse: Oberstar Bristles at Leak From Safety Board." Duluth News Tribune. 2008. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/76734/

Editors. "I-35 Bridge Collapse, Minneapolis, MN." U.S. Department of Transportation. 2008. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.dot.gov/affairs/factsheet080207.htm

Flynn, Stephen. "Minn. Bridge Collapse Reveals Brittle America." Popular Mechanics. 2007. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4219981.html
Sofge, Eric. "5 Engineering Lessons From the New, Reopened Minnesota Bridge." Popular Mechanics. 2008. 27 Oct. 2008. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4285220.html
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