Concrete structure falls onto 720
A concrete structure fell onto the eastbound Ville-Marie autoroute Sunday morning from the tunnel ceiling near the Hôtel-de-Ville overpass. No one was hurt, but the eastbound 720 is closed for the moment. Photo. It’s tremendous luck that it didn’t fall on a weekday morning. Additional images in this Radio-Canada item and the initial La Presse report stray into “holy shit” territory.
Later thought: Since the fallen structure is a paralume, one of a series of grilles meant to accustom motorists’ eyes to tunnel dimness – couldn’t they be made of something lighter than concrete?
JaneyB 11:35 on 2011/07/31 Permalink
If this had happened on a weekday, many would have died and the news stories would have richocheted for weeks. A miracle. One wonders what exactly our ‘inspectors’ do, if they can’t determine stuff that is on the verge of collapse…sigh.
Chris 11:45 on 2011/07/31 Permalink
Why assume it’s the fault of inspectors? There’s a whole chain, from inspection, to decision making, to construction.