Bridge collapses since 2000

While there have been a number of significant bridge collapses since 2000 (16 in all) fortunately there has been a fairly small number of fatalities.

The most recent (and largest loss of life) was the collapse of the Can Tho Bridge in Can Tho, Vietnam on September 26, 2007 which resulted in a loss of between 35 and 60 deaths (final number never reported) and hundreds of injuries. The bridge was under construction during the collapse and the cause has never been reported.

Other bridge collapses included

Highway 19 overpass at Laval, Quebec (De la Concorde Overpass collapse) Laval, Quebec Canada

Loncomilla Bridge near San Javier Chile Al-Sarafiya bridge Baghdad Iraq

Section of the Northern Bypass Karachi Pakistan

Highway 325 Bridge over the Xijiang River Foshan, Guangdong People's Republic of China

Tuo River bridge Fenghuang, Hunan People's Republic of China

Almuñécar, Province of Granada, Spain, Motorway bridge Almuñécar Spain

Caracas-La Guaira Highway, Viaduct #1 Tacagua Venezuela

In total these bridges caused approximately 100 deaths (that have been reported) and uncounted numbers of injuries. Some of these were caused by malfunction of structures while others were caused by weather.

In the United States, we have had 7 bridge collapses,

Hoan Bridge Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Queen Isabella Causeway Port Isabel, Texas and South Padre Island, Texas

I-40 bridge disaster Webbers Falls, Oklahoma

Interstate 95 Howard Avenue Overpass Bridgeport, Connecticut

Kinzua Bridge Kinzua Bridge State Park, Pennsylvania

Minneapolis I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River Minneapolis, Minnesota

Harp Road Bridge Oakville, Washington

the I35W bridge collapse happened at rush hour and was responsible for 13 of the 27 deaths that were attributed to bridge collapses from 2000 - 2007.

The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Bureau) always looks into the causes of bridge collapses, however, we do not always see what their final reports are unless we hear about them on the news.

Clearly with the geography involved, noone can predict if the bridge you travel every day will be the next casualty.