Bailey Bridge washed away in flood

[maple_leaf_eh]

Reliable virgin British steel!

Building long spans across gravel floodplains is just plain risky. Channels form for 10,000 reasons and flow patterns are unpredictable. The engineers ought to have put in more support piers and more expansion joints. Connecting the entire span (IMHO) is what caused so much of this damage. But, Baileys are cheap and very easy to assemble. They require next to zero maintenance and every year of service after the first is a bonus.

[dcrfan]

I suspect the lack of additional piers was the increased risk of flood uprooted tree hang ups.