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New York Times: Climate Change Can Cause Bridges to ‘Fall Apart Like Tinkertoys,’ Experts Say

NYT: 'Another example of how climate change is reshaping daily life in ways Americans may not realize'

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/02/climate/climate-change-bridges.html

Extreme heat and flooding are accelerating the deterioration of bridges, engineers say, posting a quiet but growing threat.
By Coral Davenport
Coral Davenport has reported on climate change policy and the impacts of climate change on the economy for 18 years.
On a 95-degree day this summer, New York City’s Third Avenue Bridge, connecting the Bronx and Manhattan, got stuck in the open position for hours. As heat and flooding scorched and scoured the Midwest, a steel railroad bridge connecting Iowa with South Dakota collapsed under surging waters. In Lewiston, Maine, a bridge closed after the pavement buckled from fluctuating temperatures.
America’s bridges, a quarter of which were built before 1960, were already in need of repair. But now, extreme heat and increased flooding linked to climate change are accelerating the disintegration of the nation’s bridges, engineers say, essentially causing them to age prematurely.
The result is a quiet but growing threat to the safe movement of people and goods around the country, and another example of how climate change is reshaping daily life in ways Americans may not realize.
“We have a bridge crisis that is specifically tied to extreme weather events,” said Paul Chinowsky, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder who researches the effects of climate change on infrastructure. “These are not things that would happen under normal climate circumstances. These are not things that we’ve ever seen at this rate.”
Bridges designed and built decades ago with materials not intended to withstand sharp temperature swings are now rapidly swelling and contracting, leaving them weakened.
“It’s getting so hot that the pieces that hold the concrete and steel, those bridges can literally fall apart like Tinkertoys,” Dr. Chinowsky said.
As temperatures reached the hottest in recorded history this year, much of the nation’s infrastructure, from highways to runways, has suffered. But bridges face particular risks.
Scientists, engineers and government agencies are only now beginning to develop standards for how to build climate resilient bridges, said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “We’re learning from the events that are being thrown at us, and trying to change and build for what climate change throws next, but it’s a moving target,” he said.
In 2018, Colorado became one of the first states to consider the effects of climate change as it planned its roads and bridges. After a 2013 flood damaged roughly 500 miles of road and 50 bridges in the state, requiring more than $700 million in emergency repairs, the state transportation commission required climate resilience in bridge and road construction.
The state asked Hussam Mahmoud, a civil engineer and professor at Colorado State University, to examine increased deterioration and stress in the joints of the state’s steel bridges. “What we saw was drastic,” Dr. Mahmoud said.
For decades, bridge surfaces have been zippered together with fork-teethed expansion joints, embedded into steel and pavement to accommodate normal swelling and contraction with heat and cold.
But because of extreme spikes in heat linked to climate change, the joints were swelling more, and more frequently, said Dr. Mahmoud. The problem worsened as overheated joints expanded tightly around the highway debris that typically collects between them. “Once this happens, the bridge can become permanently damaged,” he said. “The steel deforms and twists, the deck cracks, and moisture goes through it and it causes corrosion.”
Swollen joints cause other problems. Steel bridges are designed to gently bend to accommodate heavy loads, but clogged joints keep beams stiff, failing to spread out the load from large trucks.
“That means the beams in the bridge are carrying much more weight than they were designed for,” Dr. Mahmoud said.
…
Studies show that climate change has caused more rapid shifts between extreme heat and cold, said Royce Floyd, a professor of engineering at the University of Oklahoma. Those seesawing temperatures can cause pavement to squeeze from both sides onto a span, forcing the road and steel to buckle or crack, or even pushing steel beams out of alignment, Dr. Floyd found.
That’s what happened to at least three major bridges in Oklahoma in recent years, he said. The bridges have since been repaired — without taking into account studies that show the current and future impacts of climate change. But failing to make them hardier means that the buckling could return, Dr. Floyd said.
“If you don’t plan for climate change then you’re going to end up with the same problems again,” he said.
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Related: 

2007: ‘Global Warming’ claimed to have caused Minnesota bridge collapse – Joseph Romm – who served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy in 1997 and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from 1995 though 1998 – stated in a piece amazingly entitled “Did Climate Change Contribute To The Minneapolis Bridge Collapse?”

Climate Depot’s Morano comment: Is it plausible that a bridge collapse was caused by “global warming?” We have been hearing this claim for decades.  See: Flashback 2007: Warmist Joe Romm comically questioned whether the bridge collapse in Minnesota was a result of man-made global warming

Since federal research has sought a link between “climate change” and “fatal car crashes”, is it possible that anyone dying in a car crash could be listed as a “climate change” death? Say what?! U. S. Department of Transportation asks: ‘How might climate change increase the risk of fatal crashes in a community?’ &Feds Ask: Will Global Warming Cause More Deadly Car Crashes?

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But in 2016, cold caused bridge woes! Canadian bridge splits due to extreme cold – ‘Closed indefinitely’

2023: How climate change is taking its toll on bridges – “As climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather events, scientists predict that more bridges stand at risk of failure.”

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March 1, 2024: Climate change could shorten the life span of U.S. bridges – Rising seas, heavy precipitation, and extreme heat are causing corrosion, buckling, and cracking. The U.S. has more than 600,000 bridges, and they’re not made to last forever.

Hussam Mahmoud is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University…And he says climate change can accelerate that process.  Rising seas and heavy precipitation can cause corrosion. Extreme heat can cause materials to expand beyond what they’re designed for — contributing to buckling or cracking. Increasing carbon pollution can even alter the pH of concrete, causing it to degrade faster.

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2019: Climate change may see one in four US steel bridges collapse by 2040 – Global warming could contribute to the failure of one in four steel bridges in the US over the next two decades.

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Flashback: Climate hoax gravy train rolls on: Warmist Hayhoe shares in another $750k NSF project about CO2’s effect on roads and bridges?

Flashback: Obama to make it tougher to build roads, bridges – all in thevname of ‘climate change’

Flashback: Claim: ‘Climate Change’ May 25% of U.S. Steel Bridges to Collapse by 2040

 

 

 

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