The first option was not not liked because of if the changes were done, they could not be undone. The second option was the chosen one. It was not done because the bridge collapsed five days later.
The collapse happened on November 7, 1940, at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific time). It was caused by physical phenomenon known as aeroelastic flutter.
Leonard Coatsworth, a "Tacoma News Tribune" editor was the last person to drive on the bridge. He was driving with his dog, Tubby, over the bridge when the bridge started to vibrate very badly. Coatsworth had to leave his car:
No one died in the collapse of the bridge. Tubby, a black male cocker spaniel, was the only death of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster. The dog was lost along with Coatsworth's car. Professor Farquharson and a news photographer tried to save Tubby, but the dog was too scared to leave the car. He bit one of the people trying to save him. Tubby died when the bridge fell. Neither his body nor the car were ever recovered. Coatsworth had been driving Tubby back to his daughter. She was the owner of the dog. Coatsworth was payed US $450 for his car and $364.40 for what was in the car. This included Tubby.
Theodore von Kármán was one of the people who tried to learn what caused the collapse. He was the director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory and a well known aerodynamicist. He said that the State of Washington could not get money from one of the insurance policies for the bridge. This was because its insurance agent had fraudulently taken the insurance pyments. The agent, Hallett R. French worked for the Merchant's Fire Assurance Company. He was charged with grand larceny for keeping the payments for $800,000 worth of insurance. The bridge was insured by many other policies. These covered 80% of the $5.2 million bridge's value. Most of these were payed without problems.
On November 28, 1940, the U.S. Navy's Hydrographic Office said that the parts of the bridge were at geographical coordinates , at a depth of 180 feet (55 meters).
The collapse of the bridge was recorded on movie by Barney Elliott. He was the owner of a local camera store. The movie shows Leonard Coatsworth leaving the bridge after exiting his car. In 1998, "The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse" was chosen for preservation in the United States National movie Registry by the Library of Congress. It was chosen because it was culturally, historically, or aesthetically important. This footage is still shown to engineering, architecture, and physics students as an example of what can go wrong. Elliot's movies of the construction and collapse of the bridge were shot on 16 mm Kodachrome movie. Most copies are in black and white. This is because newsreels of the day copied the movie onto 35 mm black-and-white stock.
A commission formed by the Federal Works Agency studied the collapse of the bridge. It included Othmar Ammann and Theodore von Kármán. They looked at three possible reasons for the collapse:
Efforts to save the bridge started after its collapse. They continued into May 1943. It was decided that the bridge could not be repaired. The entire bridge would have to be taken down. A new bridge would have to be built. At the time, the United States was dealing with World War II. This meant the steel that would be needed to built the bridge was needed for the war. Steel from the old bridge cables and the suspension span was sold melted down. It cost the state more to destroy the bridge than it earned by selling the materials. The state lost over $350,000.
The cable anchorages, tower pedestals and most of the substructure were not damaged badly in the collapse. They were used again during construction of the new bridge that opened in 1950. The towers were badly damaged. They were taken down. The steel in them was sold to be melted down.
The parts of the bridge that fell into the water below are now a large artificial reef. They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places with reference number 92001068.
Othmar Ammann is a leading bridge designer. He is also a member of the Federal Works Agency Commission that looked at the causes of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. He wrote:
The Bronx Whitestone Bridge has a design that is much like the 1940 Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was reinforced after the collapse. Fourteen-foot-high (4.3 m) steel trusses were added on both sides of the deck in 1943. These add weight to the bridge and make it more stiff. This was done to reduce oscillation. In 2003, the trusses were removed. Aerodynamic fiberglass fairings were added along both sides of the road deck.
Because of materials and labor shortages caused by World War II, it took 10 years before a new bridge was opened. This bridge was opened to traffic on October 14, 1950. It is long — longer than Galloping Gertie. The new bridge carries 4 lanes compared to the other bridge built in 1940 which only carried 2 lanes.
Half a century later, the new bridge had more traffic than it could handle. A second, parallel suspension bridge was built to double the capacity and to carry eastbound traffic. The suspension bridge that was completed in 1950 was changed to only carry westbound traffic once the new suspension bridge opened. The new parallel bridge opened to traffic in July 2007.
West Gate Bridge
The Westgate Bridge crosses the Yarra River, near Melbourne, Victoria. It is the third longest bridge in Australia. The bridge's length, including the approaches is . Work began on the bridge on 22 April 1968, and the bridge was opened on 15 November 1978 at a cost of AU$202 million. It was the scene of Australia's worst industrial accident when part of the bridge collapsed in October 1970, killing 35 men and injuring 18 others.
The bridge is a box girder and cable stayed bridge. The bridge deck is above the water level to allow ships to pass underneath. The supporting pylons are high, and help support a span of . The bridge is wide and carries eight lanes of traffic. About 160,000 vehicles travel over the bridge each day.
Problems were first noticed on the West Gate Bridge in May 1970 when several steel girders did not fit into position by about . Engineers proposed putting ten concrete blocks, each weighing about 8 tons, onto the girders to bend them into the correct position. In September 1970 is was noticed that this had caused part of the girder to buckle. On 15 October the engineers began removing the bolts holding the buckled girders in place. This would allow the steel to unbuckle and new steel could be put up to support the damaged section. At 11.50am the damaged section collapsed. Workers both on and under the bridge were killed when the 2,000 ton section fell to the ground. The final death toll was 35 men killed and 18 injured.
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American independent supernatural horror movie. It was written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez and produced by the Haxan Films production company.
This movie was put together from amateur footage and relates the story of three student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who disappeared while hiking in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. The viewers are told the three were never seen or heard from again, although their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. This "recovered footage" is presented as the viewer is watching the movie.