Is Chinese Bridge Collapse Just the Tip of an Infrastructure Disaster Iceberg?

Keith Bradsher reports on the deadly failure of a bridge over the Songhua River in the city of Harbin completed just nine months ago, "triggering a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction in China's rapid expansion of its infrastructure."

"China's massive economic stimulus program in 2009 and 2010 helped the country avoid most of the effects of the global economic downturn, but involved incurring heavy debt to pay for the rapid construction of new bridges, highways and high-speed rail lines all over the country," writes Bradsher. And a spate of failures have raised questions, both outside China and inside, as to the quality of materials used during construction and whether projects were properly engineered. 

"According to the official Xinhua news agency, the Yangmingtan Bridge was the sixth major bridge in China to collapse since July 2011. Chinese officials have tended to blame the collapses on overloaded trucks, and did so again on Friday."