From Balcony Collapse to the NYC World Trade Center Collapse on 9/11

Balcony Collapse Law Firm: 9/11 NYC World Trade Center Twin Towers Collapse: Structural Collapse

From Balcony Collapse to the NYC World Trade Center Collapse on 9/11

Collapsing infrastructure is all around us. In Texas, we see regular reports on the dangers of our aging infrastructure (roads, bridges and tunnels). We also see regular reports in the news of balconies and decks that have fallen from the homes and apartments to which they were formerly attached. Many of these news reports of balcony collapse and structural collapse date the structures to the 1970s.

In some cases, the date is significant because huge numbers of structures were going up quickly at that time. A recent article about Montreal's aging infrastructure specifically points out the dangers of crumbling buildings that they built in haste during the 1960s and 1970s to host the Olympics and other large events. Well, Texas has yet to host the Olympics. But the '60s and '70s gave us an unprecedented era of growth. Many of our apartment complexes, homes, shopping centers, and highways date from that era. And many of them are starting to show signs of wear.

The passing years deteriorate all structures over time. Building materials like wood, stucco and certain metals are particularly vulnerable. But age doesn't pose the only danger. Design flaws and poor construction choices may be to blame. Builders often make changes (not necessarily for the better) from architects' plans when they construct a building. Seemingly small changes can have catastrophic consequences.

For instance, in 1981 in Kansas City, MO, the Hyatt Regency Hotel 4th floor walkway collapsed under the weight of scores of spectators enjoying a tea dance. This walkway came down on top of the crowded 2nd floor walkway directly below, sending them both crashing to the 1st floor atrium that contained another 2,000 people. 114 victims of the Kansas City walkway collapse died. More than 200 others were injured. The devastating walkway collapse is blamed on a small, subtle design change made during the Hyatt Regency Hotel construction phase. The change doubled the stress load on the connection between the 4th floor walkway support beams and the tie rods carrying the weight load of the second floor walkway. The new design could barely support the weight of the walkway structures. When scores of spectators added their weight to that load, the connections failed and everything plummeted into the crowded Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel lobby.

Some structural authorities blame another well-known structural collapse, that of the NYC Twin Towers on 9/11, on a combination of design and construction factors. They describe the NYC Twin Towers as compositions of square, steel, tube modules given structural support from the inside by their floors. These authorities say that the World Trade Center towers' overall structural integrity was essentially unaffected by the impact of the planes. But as fires burned locally in the impact areas, they weakened steel and the connections between the floors and the "tubes" of the main World Trade Center structures. When a corner of a floor collapsed, it caused the remainder of that floor to collapse. Then the dependent steel tube of that floor separated. As one floor collapsed down onto the next, and the next, and so on, the hollow tubes continued to be pushed out and away from their supporting floors. So in the end, the whole buildings of the World Trade Center's NYC Twin Towers went down like houses of cards. Let us hope that we never see another structural collapse so costly in terms of lives lost and destroyed.