Bridges news roundup

I've a bit of a backlog of news items that have been building up while I've been reporting on my Manchester visit ...

4 Mile Run bridge contest announces shortlist
This footbridge competition in Virginia has announced their three finalists:

• Grimshaw / Arup / Scape
• Olin / Buro Happold / Explorations Architecture / L'Observatoire International
• Rosales + Partners / Schlaich Bergermann und Partner / Simpson Gumpertz and Heger

That's a very high-powered list for a competition with minimal prize money, no funding in place to appoint the winning design team, and no guarantee that political sway won't beat design quality (see previous post). The finalists present their designs to the public on 27th March, and a winner will be announced at the same event.

Buro wins Portuguese bridge competition
Elsewhere, Happold have won a £0.5m footbridge contest with architect Powell-Williams.

Wilkinson Eyre’s Liverpool bridge scoops top honour at Civic Trust Awards
Paradise Street footbridge designed by Arup (more details)

$840,000 city study to weigh Johnson Street Bridge fate
More thought required on whether to replace or refurbish unusual bascule bridge (see previous post)

'Maintenance failures' found in Malahide viaduct report
Irish rail engineers accused of misunderstanding how their bridge was supported before it collapsed (formal report here [PDF] doesn't entirely bear out some of the reporting in the popular press). Engineers interested in why bridges fail may also like to seek out the recent RAIB report into the Stewarton Bridge failure, which is an astoundingly comprehensive catalogue of error: inspections not carried out properly; defects found and not acted on; critical calculations based on unverified assumptions; and many more.