The Race to Save Texas’ Failed Megabridge

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“Infrastructure has the power to shape millions of people’s lives for the better but only if it’s built right.” Perfectly put.

I live in Corpus and have been waiting years for this bridge to be completed, having said that this video is surprisingly in depth about the causes of the delays and the fixes being used to try and correct the problems already found.

Reminds us of how important inspectors and regulators are to keep us safe. Best to avoid collapse even if they increase costs and completion time.

What’s funny is that this isn’t even the only cable-stayed bridge in Texas under construction and facing problems because of Figg…Houston is building its own similarly-sized ship channel bridge replacement and also had to halt because of foundation/tower issues. Luckily, both projects are both getting fixed up and moving forward.

Problems like these are caused by engineering firms trying to save money with construction techniques that end up costing hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars to fix.

Reminds you of how much blind trust we put in the construction industry.

Someone needs to write the story of how Figg fell so far. They were one of the premier bridge design firms in the U.S. before the collapse in Miami.

The added bike/pedestrian path is cool. As much as I like cars, having a few pedestrian paths is much needed. Loved biking as a kid.

Some people in the comments here are missing a critical point about construction here: When something wrong happens on one project, we check over other Construction projects to see if everything is shaping up to standards. That is how the problems got caught in the first place, somebody became cautions and wanted to make certain this would still be up to snuff and found out the problems, I rather they find the problems BEFORE the bridge opens up, not afterwards. America has plenty of bridge screwups and disasters due to no checking over things.

My great grandfather helped build the Harbor bridge! Seeing it go is so bitter sweet :(

Seeing the clips of the original bridge being built with guys hanging off the sides of steel girders was the most impressive part.

I can’t help to see similarities with the Millennium Tower in San Francisco and this bridge re foundation and piles. Scary that much of the bridge got built before these 5 major issues were discovered.

Well, you should check out what is happening on a massive bridge being built in Houston as well. Construction was halted on that bridge several months ago when they discovered massive design issues that I don't understand. It is a bridge that crosses the Houston Ship Channel.

If this was a rail project or anything done in California this would be blasted on news media constantly

I wonder if adding more piles under the foundation will really help. I think this risks having the same issue that affects the leaning Millenium tower in SF, which is that if piles get too close together they capture the soil in between them, turning them into what is effectively one big pile with less overall friction holding it in place, vs actual multiple piles with more friction.

Those of you who haven't seen this bridge in person, it's insane. I'd rather they stop it and get it done safely.

Maybe they should try completing that high speed rail between Dallas and Houston first 🤷‍♂️

Very enjoyable as always 👍

This channel is a godsend, and also an indicator that I am getting old. 20 year old me doesn't find this interesting but 30 year old me loves it!