Construction Fails

When sinkholes collapse, so does everything on top. There’s a price to pay for not hiring a professional. A blazing fire destroys a residential tower and parked cars are suddenly crushed when the garage itself abruptly collapses. A Minneapolis bridge fractures and falls during evening rush hour, and bold, wacky designs translate into blueprints for the ridiculous. A newly built section in a Paris airport unexpectedly crumples and a newly built tower fails from a new technique. Finally, a 57 story high condo in downtown Manhattan is tall but not straight.

Within three months, two elevated highways in Bangkok gave way, both due to a hidden fault. In Uruguay, a bakery oven blast ignited a mall fire that burned for 48 hours despite active sprinklers. London’s skyline faced setbacks: the Walkie Talkie melted cars, a tower erupted in flames, and rooftop turbines sparked noise complaints. Colombia’s Chirajar bridge lost a tower during construction. North Carolina’s stilt homes vanish as seas rise. The 1928 Silver Bridge collapse, caused by a minor design flaw, claimed 46 lives. In Iowa, repeated repairs on the Davenport ended in its downfall.

The town of Surfside made headline news when a luxury condo shockingly collapsed. Roads with crumbling cliffs and hairpin turns, bring you close to danger and back. A popular club in coastal Mallorca caves in with no warning. When things go wrong with airplanes high up getting grounded is the goal. Italy has another leaning tower that might soon need critical care. Bricks forge cities but are still able to fail. A sea of molasses erupts in Boston city and destroys everything in its path. A brutal flash flood sweeps away two hydropower plants, revealing a new problem of building in the Himalayas.

As aftershocks from a massive quake reach Bangkok, towers sway, but only one collapses, exposing construction failures. In Copenhagen, the historic Børsen stock exchange burned despite fire protections. In the Bronx, a repair mistake brings down a six-story building. Leeds’ Bridgewater Place turned deadly when wind gusts lead to a fatal accident. In Berkeley, ignored warnings result in a balcony collapse. The Great Mill Disaster in Minneapolis sparked reforms. And mobile Cranes demand precision—one slip can mean disaster.

A design meant to preserve a Pittsburgh bridge leads to its collapse. Just one construction fumble can make a cozy home crash. Brazil’s new metro line build coincides with a sewage pipe rupture, and half-built skyscrapers keep turning into ghost-scrapers. An active volcano finally erupts causing staggering damage, while excess loads send truckers off road and off schedule. Snow tears apart a stadium roof and caves in a shopping mall rooftop. And a wave of porter beer leaves a tsunami of devastation. Finally a mega-billboard falls over and attracts the wrong kind of attention.

Cable cars in Pakistan stranded passengers above mountains, and in Turkey, a cable car saw some riders fall, while en route to a 620-meter peak. Why did these failures happen when cable cars are 10 times safer than cars? Two UK airport car park fires scorch thousands of cars. In Spain, flash floods hit Valencia, with preventable deaths. Romania’s new Braila Bridge cracked despite 6,000 tonnes of cables. In Serbia, a rail canopy collapsed, sparking protests. Boston’s Hancock Tower had shaky beginnings, going from bad to worse. The brains behind Britain's bike paths, gets bashed.