A week after a massive pedestrian bridge collapsed in southern Florida, crushing many cars and six people under it, a video - captured from the dashcam of a vehicle on the highway - has surfaced, showing the 950-ton structure crumble down.
Posted on YouTube, the video shows multiple cars in three queues, waiting to pass the traffic junction just a few metres after the $14.2 million bridge. And then it happens. The newly-built bridge plummets onto traffic on one of the busiest roads in South Florida, crushing cars and people underneath.
The 174-feet-long bridge connected the Florida International University (FIU) with the city of Sweetwater and was installed in six hours over the eight-lane highway on March 15.
The bridge was intended to provide a walkway over the busy street, where an 18-year-old female FIU student from San Diego was killed in August as she attempted to cross, according to reports.
To limit disruption to traffic during construction, the 174-foot portion of the bridge was built adjacent to Southwest 8th Street, using a method called Accelerated Bridge Construction.
The bridge was designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, the rating given the most dangerous storms by the National Hurricane Center, and built to last 100 years.
