John Oliver describes how I-95 bridge collapse in Phila was stopped by sausage sandwich

[JPZenger]

John Oliver discussed “how close to catastrophe we occasionally are" with a clip from an episode of 60 Minutes featuring Ed Rendell. With that, he launches into the story of how construction engineers Peter Kim and Tony Jen pulled off I-95 in Port Richmond one fateful day in 2008 to discover that a column supporting six lanes of the highway had developed an enormous crack. Without their intervention, a tragedy likely would have developed.

“So there might have been a disaster if those Philly contractors had not wanted to stop for a sausage sandwich,” Oliver said. “Which means we were fine — we were always going to be fine.”

The seriousness of the situation, however, was not lost on Oliver, who explained how close we in Philly came to a bridge collapse. And how close we may come yet, given the right circumstances.

“But the scary thing is, what if the next cracked pillar is next to a vegan smoothie stand?” Oliver asked. “The bridge is going down, and people are going to die.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/John-Oliver-re-tells-how-a-hot-sausage-sandwich-rescued-Phillys-stretch-of-I-95-back-in-2008.html#YSDMzwBFM4MWQLVJ.99

[DreamGypsy]

1. Never underestimate the power...

...of a vegan smoothie.

[central scrutinizer]

2. If they took all the gluten

that has been removed from food they could form it into a kind of Bondo and trowel it into those cracks - problem solved.

[Panich52]

3. I thought for sure he'd mention Pittsburgh bridge held up w/ wood supports