[luvDriving]

This has been on the new channels since early morning today and now even Mr Modi has taken notice of the incident.

The bridge on river Savitri in Mahad on the Mumbai-Goa highway collapsed around 11.30 PM last night. According to a mechanic working in a nearby garage and who was present near the incident spot said that he saw at least 2 vehicles fall into the river and get washed away. They are assumed to be two state transport buses travelling from Rajapur to Mumbai since these two buses have been missing since last night. Total 22 people in two busses assumed to be washed away.

The total number of vehicles washed away is yet to be found out by the authorities. This bridge was built by the British and it was not closed even after the locals had complained about it being unsafe and a new bridge being available.

I was wondering how can one react or be prepared for such an eventuality ? Travelling at speeds of say 60kmph in heavy rain, how can one spot a broken bridge and react in time ? Wouldn't the vehicles sink to the bottom of the river or will they just keep flowing along with the river waters ? How do you get out of your vehicles in time ?

The sarkari response to this incident is as expected. The mechanic tried calling 100 but he did not get any response. So he and the other people working at the garage blocked traffic and waited till the Police finally arrived. The local guardian minister (probably sleeping due to heavy gatari party) was yet to reach the spot at 10 AM.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by luvDriving

I was wondering how can one react or be prepared for such an eventuality ? Travelling at speeds of say 60kmph in heavy rain, how can one spot a broken bridge and react in time ?

The answer is very simple: don't overdrive!

What that means is:

• Drive so that your braking distance is less than visible road ahead - this applies to good weather, rainy/foggy weather, and nighttime
• Drive within the holistic capabilities of your vehicle (holistic in the sense that just because a bike can accelerate like a bat out of hell, don't do so, because the brakes might not be as effective!)
• This is India - so expect the unexpected! Don't assume that just because the last 100-odd kms were on super smooth roads, that across that next blind turn exists a good road, or an intact bridge, or even the same number of lanes!

[STraiTDriVE]

It’s a very unfortunate news and beyond thoughts how would have been the situation at that time. Dark night 11.30 pm, people travelling on a bridge when you would have no clue of what’s happening beneath. Anguish and shame on the authorities if they knew the bridge is unsafe and why such heavy vehicles were riding on it in the first case.

It should be a criminal case if helpline nos are not answered; It becomes such a helpless situation when these systems are not honoured for the purpose they are meant for.

[SmartCat]

This is an extremely rare event and there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. While driving on highways, the possibility of bridge or flyover collapsing shouldn't be on your mind.

I guess if there is a "new bridge" and an "old bridge", you take the new bridge - assuming that contractor who has built the new bridge was honest, used the right materials and that the civil engineer did his job competently.

[pkulkarni.2106]

Because of the sitting position, the bus drivers should have better visibility. But the driving conditions (heavy rainfall + night) reduce the visibility. Normally a person driving a car would slow down in such cases because of reduced visibility + possibility of skidding, a bus driver would not, as the weight gives them advantage here. That's what we can think of at least.

The authorities should put signs before such bridges (at least the old ones which we think are dangerous), and it's the responsibility of the driver as well to slow down after noticing such boards. This might help in preventing mishaps like these.

[sridhu]

Surprised this accident has not appeared here:

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bridg...y-rain-1439587

Such a tragedy. How come nobody loses their job for something like this ever? SUrely it is someone's job to validate that bridges & roads are motorable?

[mpksuhas]

Guess everyone is of the impression that the vehicles got on to bridge AFTER it collapsed.

First of all, a bridge in use on an national highway (or any highway) is not supposed to collapse on its own. Lets not blame the rain for the same, the newer bridge next to this collapsed one hasnt collapsed yet so.

Originally Posted by pkulkarni.2106

Because of the sitting position, the bus drivers should have better visibility. But the driving conditions (heavy rainfall + night) reduce the visibility.

From what I made of the text quoted below is that, the vehicles were on the bridge when it collapsed and hence got washed away. The mechanic and others blocked the bridge after that. So, in short there is nothing which could have saved the halpess drivers of the vehicles.

Originally Posted by luvDriving

The mechanic tried calling 100 but he did not get any response. So he and the other people working at the garage blocked traffic and waited till the Police finally arrived.

The local guardian minister (probably sleeping due to heavy gatari party) was yet to reach the spot at 10 AM.

Else, too what use with the politicians visiting any place after the incident happens. Apart from some photo-ops.

Originally Posted by smartcat

This is an extremely rare event and there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. While driving on highways, the possibility of bridge or flyover collapsing shouldn't be on your mind.

Exactly, out of the things to look out for this comes far behind.

I guess if there is a "new bridge" and an "old bridge", you take the new bridge - assuming that contractor who has built the new bridge was honest, used the right materials and that the civil engineer did his job competently.

New and old bridge, both were in use as per news reports. One for each direction of traffic.

News link of the same

[paragsachania]

A very tragic event to start the day and with memories from the drive on NH17 still fresh from 10 days before, I can imagine the wrath of the rain fury that may have caused this!

The rains in this part of the region are extreme as of now and it has been that way since a fortnight now. I recall how the wipers had to be used at the fastest speeds to ensure better visibility when we drove and even during early evening with darker clouds that hinted that the world has come to and end with rains not stopping at all.

And this week I learnt that the rains have been more furious that I can imagine what could be the state to drive here today.

The bridge in question as Suhas mentions was very much in use and it runs parallel to another latest bridge. It is more likely a case where the buses and private vehicles were washed away while they were on the bridge and not really when the bridge had already collapsed.

This seems to be the exact spot where the bridge collapsed as it was over Savitri River. One that was built recently and the one that collapsed was built during the British rule Era as per the news reports.

The Bus was northbound from Rajapur from the news reports:

[SDP]

Originally Posted by sridhu

Surprised this accident has not appeared here:

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bridg...y-rain-1439587

Such a tragedy. How come nobody loses their job for something like this ever? SUrely it is someone's job to validate that bridges & roads are motorable?

Details are still coming in. This is shaping up to be a big disaster. I am tracking the news since early morning. Apparently, the bridge collapse happened yesterday night around 11-11:30pm. Two ST buses and may be 6-7 cars are involved. A navy helicopter has also been pushed into service for search & rescue, but there is no sign of any vehicles till now. The news channels are just showing the collapsed bridge till now.

[hemanth.anand]

Such a tragedy. How come nobody loses their job for something like this ever? SUrely it is someone's job to validate that bridges & roads are motorable?

When they have constructed a new bridge beside it, they would definitely know the life left in this bridge
One more incident proving that in our country we don't value lives as mush as we should be.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

When they have constructed a new bridge beside it, they would definitely know the life left in this bridge
One more incident proving that in our country we don't value lives as mush as we should be.

Blame that on 4 Laning of this stretch Hemant and as we have seen in many cases, the old Bridges continue to "serve" along with the new ones that are built in parallel to it. Here too it was the same.

The pictures and Videos clearly show it was the old bridge that got washed away and the new one standing on ground, strongly.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Blame that on 4 Laning of this stretch Hemant and as we have seen in many cases, the old Bridges continue to "serve" along with the new ones that are built in parallel to it. Here too it was the same.

You are right paragsachania, But what I meant to say was that when a new bridge is constructed, they would've (or rather must have) studied how much more time the older bridge can sustain.
Based on that if the older one looks weak, they should close it down completely.
Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way in this part of the world :(

Wherever I find this such an arrangement and I'm on the older bridge, I drive faster than I normally would do.
The Bridge in Belur town over Yagachi river is one such example that immediately comes to my mind
I don't know if that will put more load on the bridge or not, but its for my consolation. And of course I breathe a sigh of relief after I have crossed the bridge

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

The Bridge in Belur town over Yagachi river is one such example that immediately comes to my mind

That is a perfect example. In fact, that bridge was declared weak a decade or before that and still continues to take load of traffic heading inside the town and it is indeed scary. But Yagachi river after the dam was constructed has never flown in full glory like it used to before when we have noticed the width of the river more than the length of the bridge itself.

Another example I have seen is the good old bridge over River Narmada between Ankleshwar and Bharuch towns on NH8. The old Bridge although is open for LMVs still scares the hell out of me as one can literally see the joints bouncing as vehicles pass by.

[pixantz]

Can someone who has actually used either of these bridges or has passed this way throw some light on exactly why these two continued to be used simultaneously? If they are so close as to almost touching, there must have been an advantage of the old bridge being consciously used like, for example it must've been leading to a kind of shortcut ahead or gave access to a better route ahead, or the likes.

Or then they both started and ended at the same entry exit points and the old one was just left to hang around just for fun??

As some people say thay they were used as one-ways for opposite traffic, this doesn't seem to be the case because the new bridge clearly has center white marker strips indicating a two way road. Anybody with more info?

[abirnale]

Very tragic news indeed. :(

This is not the only bridge that is old and still in use.

Originally Posted by pixantz

Can someone who has actually used either of these bridges or has passed this way throw some light on exactly why these two continued to be used simultaneously?

NH17 as such is very crowded anyway. Having two way traffic on these bridges each taking one direction is easy way out many times.

Take the case of Irwin bridge between Ankali and Udgaon towns in Sangli District of Maharashtra. The old bridge (Irwin bridge, as they call) was build in British era. The Sangli City Municipality received a letter some 10 years ago from England (it made a lot of news locally about how good British are in keeping up their duties) stating that bridge is beyond it's life and should be demolished. All that government did was constructed another bridge beside this existing bridge on River Krishna and used the old bridge for one way traffic. It continues to be so even today. The Irwin bridge survived the flooding few years ago. While the major part of Sangli city went below water, both these bridges stood tall.

Now if that makes us feel how good the construction was and continue to depend on them for daily use, its not just government to blame but us as informed commuters too. For folks who are not in this area might not know the history, and that is when governments have to step up and do the needful to avoid such mishaps.

I would like to see a list of such bridges emerge. At least we will be aware of what are those spots that these bridges exists and what can we do to avoid such issues in future.