this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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Third Avenue Bridge, which connects New York's the Bronx to Manhattan, got stuck in an open position due to the high heat on Monday.

FDNY officers arrived in boats and fired water at the structure to try and cool down the metal, which expanded after high temperatures in the city, officials say.

The incident caused major traffic delays during one of the hottest days of the year in New York but reopened on the same day.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There are so many industries where building or manufacturing standards will not withstand environmental changes.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

We've got something north of a trillion dollars in deferred infrastructure maintenance. You see the edges of the problem in the whole Flint water crisis, when a cheapo state appointed city planner overruled the local government to pump untreated river water through aging leaded pipes. Or the Minnesota bridge collapse.

But this kind of underfunded domestic investment is everywhere. We've leeched vast stocks of wealth from our urban core and thrown it into our war machine abroad, and now our nation is crumbling under our feet.

Climate change simply accelerates the speed of the rot.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Ah, we've reached the collapsing infrastructure stage of climate change. Oh good.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Are you kidding? This is infrastructure expansion!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

In Switzerland a major highway got damaged by floods and they expect some valleys in the Alps to become uninhabitable. We are ahead!

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Okay... so... Republicans... I know you're not big on science, but the Earth is not supposed to get so hot that metal expands to the point that we can't move a metal bridge that's reliably moved for a very long time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (6 children)

the Earth is not supposed to

I don't think we get to say what the earth is "supposed to" do.

For most of the earths existence it wouldn't be possible for humans to exist. I don't think it really gives a shit about a bridge we built.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Not a bridge expert, or really any kind of expert, really. But railroad rails are laid with a little gap to account for thermal expansion of the rail on hot days. If the expansion is more than designed for, you get buckling like this. This bridge was probably also designed to account for thermal expansion to a certain degree. It seems like more and more of our infrastructure is starting to fail, encountering heat levels it was never expected to encounter. I wonder if failures like this and worse are going to become a common headline

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This bridge was probably also designed to account for thermal expansion to a certain degree. It seems like more and more of our infrastructure is starting to fail, encountering heat levels it was never expected to encounter. I wonder if failures like this and worse are going to become a common headline

Bridge engineer here (not much experience, so I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I have more knowledge about it than the general public).

Your suspicions are correct, bridges are designed for thermal expansion. More of our infrastructure is starting to fail, and part of that is because it's experiencing climate it was never designed for (heat, sea level rise, more drastic storm surges, etc). I would fully expect this to be a more common headline. At least for several more years, anyway. If the federal money from the infrastructure bill the US passed a few years ago runs out or is not allocated to the right structures, then this will only get more common. I don't expect the Trump administration to champion an extension of these funds if they do run out. It was passed under Biden, after all.

As for this bridge in particular, this is a moveable steel bridge. The fact that it's moveable means it is particularly sensitive to expansion (as well as salinity which causes rusting). Too much expansion, and the steel will get stuck in one position. In a typical steel bridge, if the thermal expansion exceeds what it was designed for, you end up getting higher stress levels in the steel as it pushes harder against the abutments. Usually this is alright in the short term, since we design these to withstand much higher stresses than it will ever likely experience. Repeated cycles of this, however, will cause fatigue failure (think of a paperclip or metal spoon snapping after you bend it back and forth a bunch).

Anyways, there you have it. I rambled for too long about this lol.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago

I rambled for too long about this lol.

The fuck you did! Making the world a little less dumb, one ramble at a time, is a good thing. We don't all need to be specialists in everything, but a brief summary like this contributes to our general knowledge and is a net positive.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Thanks for this additional info; your comment was interesting

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

According to Practical Engineering, tracks are no longer given a gap. The gap causes premature wear and excess noise. Instead, they lay the track under tension, and weld the joins between sections.

There is still a limit on how much heat they can handle before buckling, of course. I just thought that was a neat innovation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That sounds crazy. How do they do it? Just lay the rails on a hot day?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Basically, yes, though I think they have special hydraulic pullers, too. I forget the exact name. They have to take special measures if the day is too cold.

https://youtu.be/zqmOSMAtadc?si=FCG7HxiPWXNQY6Uj

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Rail is laid at a "neutral temperature" calculated from the min and max temperatures of an area. They want the rail to not pull apart in the cold or buckle in the heat. If average temperatures go up that calculated neutral temperature goes up so rail laid at a lower neutral temperature are more likely to buckle.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It’s obviously Joe Biden’s fault. Bridgocide Joe.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You joke, but Kathy Hocul and Andrew Cuomo have been underfunding transit for over a decade.

This is absolutely a problem of "business friendly" Democrats diverting funding for basic public services to their corporate buddies at Amazon, across Wall Street, in the NYPD, and in the publicly subsidized sports arena racket.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think that comment was meant satirical.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

And yet, as shown with the reply, satire can help discussion along when mindful are wistful as well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

Thanks Obama

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

We had a similar issue with an older bridge here in Gothenburg, Sweden. The fix was to install water sprinklers during the summer to keep the bridge from expanding too much.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What if we cooled it with the blood of climate change deniers?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (8 children)

Dumb question, but why is the water cooler than the bridge? Because it was underground? Or does the evaporation help because it's endothermic?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Touch the roof of a car in the sun. Shit's hot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Both. Even the river water below the surface will be cooler than steel that's been sitting in the sun. And putting that cool water on the bridge absorbs some of the heat and is removed in evaporation, just like sweating.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Water also needs a substantial amount of energy to evaporate, hence it will sip some heat from the environment around it when it evaporates. Combined with the good thermal conductivity of steel, the bridge cools off.

You get a similar effect when walking out of a hot shower. The hot water evaporates and cools you down.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I'm learning so much from this post.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Is official. 2024 is using early 2000 blockbusters movie's plots now. What a bunch of lazy screenwriters.

The Core (2003) - Golden Bridge Scene

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Here, you now have free long distance on this phone. Forever.

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