BRIDGE FAILURES, 1951-1988

The purpose of this paper is to collect and classify bridge failures that occurred in the United States from 1951 through 1988. The work reported herre is the first paurt of an ongoing research project on the lifeline design of bridges, whose objective is to investigate the feasibility of applying lifeline design to bridges. "Lifeline design" is an established principle in the design and construction of buildings. It requires that a structure be designed and constructed so that even if a critical component fails, the structure will not totally collapse; rather, the bridge will still carry its own weight plus a specified portion of the design live load. There will be large deformations and cracking, but no loss of life; thus the name lifeline design. The information contained in this article is drawn entirely from engineering magazines, one nationally distributed newspaper ( the New York Times), and one statewide newspaper ( the Louisville Courier Journal).