Why Bridges Collapse 1x54

On a rainy August morning in 2018, a massive section of the Polcevera Bridge in Genoa, Italy, collapsed and killed 43 people. As emergency responders raced to rescue survivors, authorities began investigating the cause of the collapse. For 50 years, the iconic bridge had stood up to the ever-increasing traffic, a testament to the strength of its pre-stressed concrete and cable stays. So what went wrong that fateful day? Through eyewitness testimony, expert interviews, and dramatic archive footage, NOVA pieces together the sequence of events—and investigates what may have led to the bridge’s downfall. But the Polcevera Bridge isn’t alone. Across the United States and Europe, thousands of bridges are listed as structurally deficient. Join experts as they compare what happened to the Polcevera with other deadly bridge collapses, including Minnesota’s I-35W bridge over the Mississippi and the famed Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. How can new technologies and engineering improvements make bridges across the world safer and more durable than ever before?