In areas of the Northeast where infrastructure damage from Hurricane Irene was relatively minor, bridge engineers saw the storm—as well as the previous week’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake affecting the same area—as a dress rehearsal for future potential catastrophic events.
Pennoni Associates, engineer-of-record and program manager for Pennsylvania’s Burlington County Bridge Commission, had installed sensors in 2007 on two moveable bridges—one, a 500-ft lift span and the other, a 280-ft-long bascule span with a 500-ft arch.