American Scientist

During a heavy rainstorm in mid-August 2018, a large section of a landmark Italian bridge collapsed. Dozens of vehicles that had been traveling on the elevated highway were hurtled 45 meters to the ground, scattered in a riverbed, across railroad tracks, and onto the streets below. In all, 43 people died. The failed bridge had been a signature structure, one that was uniquely associated with the city of Genoa and its environs. It had also been a poster child for Italy’s tradition of creative engineering design in concrete. International media reports on the tragedy referred to the span as the Genoa Bridge, after the Mediterranean port city over which it had loomed for five decades; Italians called it the Ponte Morandi, after the engineer who had designed it.