All articles tagged with #infrastructure maintenance
Inspectors found corrosion deep inside the Forth Road Bridge's main cables, with an estimated 8–10% loss of strength; engineers are pumping dehumidified air through the cables and using microphones to locate wire breaks, a costly but effective monitoring approach that slowed deterioration and avoided immediate replacement.
A 70-page Exponent investigation says PG&E knew there was damage at the Mission substation before the December blackout but did not replace or thoroughly inspect faulty equipment, while moisture and standing water in a 1940s-era facility contributed to a fire and outages that left about 120,000 San Francisco residents without power, fueling calls to reform or break up the utility amid maintenance lapses and disputed restoration timelines.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the concrete dolphins meant to protect it. Experts suggest that the dolphins, built in the 1970s, were insufficient to prevent such a collision, especially given the increase in size and weight of modern cargo ships. While newer bridges are required to have robust collision prevention structures, older bridges like the Key Bridge are not strictly required to be fortified or replaced. The lack of investment in infrastructure maintenance and upgrades poses dangerous consequences, highlighting the need for prioritizing and addressing critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.