Vancouver's 2nd Narrows Bridge: In Memoriam

On June 17, 1958, exactly 49 years ago, the bridge spanning East Vancouver and North Burnaby with North Vancouver suddenly collapsed in the midst of its construction.

79 workers were thrown into the water and 18 ultimately died, plus 1 diver who was involved in the search & rescue operation. You can read much more about the disaster here.

This disaster presents a special significance to locally educated engineers. Most graduate Canadian graduate engineers wear an Iron Ring on the pinky finger of their working hand. It provides a daily reminder about every professional decision they make because mistakes can sometimes have costly repercussions. Such was the case with the 2nd Narrows Bridge. A junior engineer made a mistake in the calculations for the required support during the construction. His boss, an older engineer, never caught the mistake. When the bridge collapsed they were both on the bridge at the time. Neither survived.

This bridge has since been renamed the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing but is still commonly referred to by its original name.