Germany: Carola Bridge in Dresden collapses into Elbe river | DW News

Officials in Germany are investigating the partial collapse of a bridge in the eastern city of Dresden. No injuries were reported, but shipping on the river Elbe has been halted, leading to major disruptions.

For more on this, we talk to Steffen Marx. He is Professor of Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Dresden.

00:00 German bridge collapses
02:22 Interview with Professor Steffen Marx

Follow DW on social media:

#Dresden #Bridge #Collapse

[leonflemming]

So here are some additional infos from the local media here in Dresden.

This bridge was a very early one of its construction kind, with a big problem being a lack of proper water sealing.
This allowed road salt to seep into the concrete and corrode the steel.
This problem was known for a while and the other parts of the bridge where already renovated to fix this issue, but this section was the last one and schedueled for next year.
Apparently there was also a neglect of general mainenance during the GDR era.

The biggest shock to everyone is that nobody could predict it, even though bridges are monitored thoroughly every 3 years with every crack, every mm of movement being assesed and recorded. Bridges are considered the best monitored buildings in germany, where safety is already the absolute priority.
Another bridge in Dresden, the "Blaues Wunder", was already closed for busses and trucks years earlier because of safety concerns

It is a miracle that it collapsed empty at 3 in the night, the last tram passed it 18min earlier.
Right next to the bridge is also the famous "Filmnächte am Elbufer", which hosts concerts and movies every evening from june to august, with increased tram traffic and hundreds of pedestrians on that very bridge at the same time. This could have been such a massive catastrophe.

[adambased]

Meanwhile The 300 year old bridge still standing 😊

[euandykes]

Painted rust syndrome it's called in the US. Whereby you simply paint over the rust so the people don't complain about the aging infrastructure. This looks like all the reenforcing steel snapped almost at the same time. This is a global problem as most developed nations have aging infrastructure. We need more civil engineers per structure now than when things were built. Most structures are designed for 50 years and built to the budget at the time.

[bordersw]

The problem isn’t that the bridge collapsed, the problem is that no one warned before that it was likely - in other words it wasn’t thoroughly checked.

[wildfotoz]

I live in the US and I got a chuckle from the 2 guys that said that this sort of thing is more likely to happen in the US. Germany and the US are not the only countries in the world that have crumbling infrastructure problems. I suspect it's most countries.

[diametheuslambda]

I loved the interviewee chorus of "I thought we were better than everybody else". Truly an attitude to inspire rearmament programmes in adjoining countries.

[bradmetcalf]

It wasnt a Toyota Corolla bridge or it would have lasted another 8 billion years..

[nfttuor]

30 years ago, this story would have NEVER been allowed outside of Germany

[juanes]

Based on what the interviewers said and my experience living in Germany, the locals sometimes feel in a bubble and that everything here is perfect and under control. They don't realise so many issues they have (not only infrastructure, especially technologically) that somehow are not collapsing yet. One simple example is simplify process via internet and cash payments. Things are changing for the best here? Yes, definitely. But still lagging behind compared with some developing countries. They slowly realise this harsh reality for them. On another note, safety is a precious intangible asset they have and always complain about it.

[pldot]

This man saying that 'it is symptomatic', really? Bridge was build in 1970, which was DDR at that time and quality specific for this moment in history of Eastern Europe.

[BerlietGBC]

What’s happening to Germany infrastructure, the an airport that was a complete disaster, railways that are on there knees, new buses that don’t work and now bridge collapse

[stevemcgowen]

Post War reconstruction was quick and shoddy. You see post war reconstruction in Dresden already being renovated.

[hypergolic]

Wonder if in the investigation they will find the engineers suggested a bridge with a lifespan of 150 years. The politicians enter the conversation, and find out the cost of steel and tell the engineers: "we want that bridge design but but not at that price".
"Ok you can have the bridge at half the price: BUT you need to run a maintenance programme every five years doign x, and every 25 years replace 25% of the cables according to this plan". Bridge opens, and in five years time the maintenance budget is cut to zero and no one talks about it further.

[imayoutubeviewer]

wow now I am doubting German engineering

[louistan]

Looks like more problems for Olaf Scholz. It certainly does not rain but pours.

[goldfingerhardcore]

Saying that this is expected to happen in other countries but not there shows the pathetic level of arrogance of some Germans. It is really sad. Luckily no injured people.

[toptohyekoms]

Tis the year when bridges around the world fell down!

[ignorasmus]

I am an Indian immigrant in Germany.
As I see India becoming (VERY VERY SLOWLY) like Germany every year, Germany feels more and more like home every day...
😂

[frankblangeard]

Germany tries to destroy a bridge in Crimea and fails. A bridge in Germany fails without any help at all. Karma?

[faarfaar]

Best thing about this news reader is that he doesn't let the expert waft on to nothing. He like, give me an eli5 to tell the people! Haha