The fatal construction problems that made the Morandi Bridge in Genua collapse last week did not come as a surprise to Italian experts in road safety and engineering. In pictures: Deadly Italy bridge collapse ; Here is what we know so far about the disaster. Real-time structural health monitoring would have provided data for maintenance and warned of impending failure. The bridge was in service for over 50 years and carried the traffic over one of the busiest highways in Europe. The bridge. Morandi’s Polcevera viaduct was an important transportation link that connected port of Genoa to other major cities in Europe. The Ponte Morandi, also sometimes called the Polcevera bridge, has a pre-stressed concrete mix encasing cable stays, of which there are few compared to many other bridges of its size. The western tower, the leftmost one in the picture at the top, and the stays attaching the roadway to it, were destroyed in the collapse, and a 300-foot section of the deck plunged into the riverbed. Already 8 years ago, voices were raised that the bridge would collapse within ten years, due to rust and other problems innate in the design - problems known by the architect since the bridge was constructed in the 60s. When it was built, the Ponte Morandi was a point of pride in Italy.

Read full articles, watch videos, browse thousands of titles and more on the "Ponte Morandi" topic with Google News. Images have emerged of the "crumbling" Ponte Morandi bridge in Genoa, a year before it collapsed killing 39 people. The Ponte Morandi post-collapse, with western span and attached deck missing.