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"yep its still wet" I always love those little speech bubbles

Bridge design and maintenance can be quite Plainly Difficult

It's almost as if bridges needed some kind of periodic inspection and maintenance.

Sitting on a Saturday morning with my coffee, hitting refresh and knowing the new Plainly Difficult will arrive at any second. ☕

I grew up in Schoharie and still have family living there. I was born the same year but my dad was a truck driver at the time. Hes visiting me right now and I showed him this video and he said he remembers this very clearly because he was on the bridge the same night it collapsed (a couple of hours before).

I had some people I know trying to figure out how a ship runs into a bridge and a bridge could fall after Baltimore, and thanks to your videos I was able to give a quick list of possibilities (really minimally stated) for both ship and bridge, and stop a bunch of people from jumping into conspiracy as their first thought (rather than say the entire bingo card plus hydrology and geology and engineering and simple human error). So thank you for helping me be able to give people an idea of why the investigation will take so long, and possible things they will find based on other disasters. It gave them something productive to actually focus on: contacting their representatives to push for checking on other bridges for things like a lack of protection from boat collisions or other infrastructure issues that have been ignored. It also gave them a better understanding of how and why disasters happen and what to look for before and after, plus a source to learn more. As someone with very bad anxiety, knowledge is power, and it enables me to assess actual risk vs the invented risk in my brain. So, thank you!

Here for the weekly southern London weather report

In the mid-1930s a railway bridge in the Esk valley between Grosmont and Sleights was wash away after heavy rain. A few weeks after the bridge had been reopened it was washed away again and had to be rebuilt. That bridge still stands. No one was killed or injured in either collapse.

This disaster happened a few miles from my Village of Fonda. The Thruway authority directed all their traffic through our little settlement. A few days later our bridge over the Mohawk River came loose from it's footing and became very dangerous. Our bridge was closed and we were not even allowed to walk over it until it was torn down and replaced. I believe the final body was not found for a very long time, the person had been swept into the Mohawk river down by Albany.

I grew up 20 miles from Schoharie and never heard of this!

Been over this bridge many times along the thruway, and the replacement span. It floods so strongly when it floods because the watershed is long, and steep sided, acting as a funnel, resulting in fast and furious water. The tragedy made the news, obviously, and was quite extensively covered.

I live in this area but only fir the past 20 yrs. This is still heavy on the minds of most locals especially since so many bridges are in disrepair

Thanks for covering older stuff, that's actually undergone a full investigation; it's refreshing hearing things that aren't speculation, even if it's for tragic events.

Another reason not to underestimate water

The Key Bridge disaster stunned the whole city. I live about an hour away and work within a few miles of the bridge site. The loss of life was terrible and in addition, many people's livelihoods have been seriously affected as well. Hopefully once the investigation is complete, you can make a video on that as well.

Living in Baltimore, it’s been a weird shock with the bridge collapse. However one thing that’s been keeping me up is thinking “man one day after the reports are published this is going to be a really interesting Plainly Difficult video”

I always love watching these videos on Saturday. This one especially hits home. I am a native of Rochester, NY and the I90 is the main heart across all of Upstate NY.

Great video as always, John. You might want to cover the TETCO LNG tank explosion on Staten Island in 1973. It killed 40 men, the odd thing about it being the tank had been emptied ten months before. Further, it resulted in years of legal and political battles to prevent any more LNG tanks being built there, and one ugly behemoth which was built but never filled, dominating the local skyline

Thanks John- from the crisp, cool, very sunny center of U.S.A.

Here we go, Saturday morning disaster video.

Thank you John.

These videos are part of my Saturday routine! Thanks for making them!

You make my Saturdays so much better... Plainly Difficult ❤

I know a few people that had stopped before going off this bridge. They tried to get others to stop as well. Sadly even though they had parked a truck and 25ft car trailer across some of the road way, a few cars still drove past and off the bridge.

We had walk bridge over river collapsing in Prague in 2017. About the same time as the Genoa bridge colapse.

Ayyyy another video! Do the 1991 NYC derailment or the 1987 Conrail collision please.

Covering American bridge collapses is a lot like painting the Golden Gate bridge... a never ending task! Apparently, 75% of bridges in America are structurally unsound, so in the time it takes to make one video, two more bridges have fallen over. Have you seen that epic bridge in France? Englishman designed it, just sayin'...

I grew up in upstate NY, not too far from there, and I was 16 at the time of the collapse. This was, obviously, *huge* news at the time. I remember it very clearly, and the detours they built using the local road bridge and disused railroad bridge just upstream. They're still there today - the old Route 5S bridge now carries the Canalway Trail, while the old railroad bridge carries Route 5S. I guess the road bridge must have been getting old and it was cheaper to shift the road to the rail bridge than to replace it. I used to look for the detour remains whenever I drove through that area. They were easy to spot for years if you knew where to look. They're well overgrown now, you can just about make out the scars on the satellite view.

No fancy 95,000T ships, just some good ol' fashioned poor planning, ah the good ol' days

4:40 “yep its wet” 😂

Wonderful a Short Disaster Explained Short and Sweet !

I’m looking forward to this channel’s video on the Francis Scott Key bridge! It probably won’t be made until the new bridge is built of course.

It amazes me how you keep coming up with these "unknown" disasters. You must spend an awful lot of time researching and I thank you for that since I would never have heard about these incidents without you.

I was never expecting a video from the county I live in omg!

Your content is always well worth the watch

u put so much work into your videos, u are funny , a great story teller , love every single video!!

Westgate Bridge Melbourne in the 70s. Look that one up.

I really like this channel. Thank you.

I feel like “Cost cutting” could be a free space on the Bingo card

These videos are part of my Saturday morning routine

There's an irony I have a hospital ad attached to this video lol

I lived in Albany just east of here, and I've driven over this particular bridge/creek many many times on the NY Thruway, I never knew about this until just a few years ago.

I think about this disaster several times a week when I ride my bike on the canalway trail just north of where it happened. Especially this time of year when the creek is dangerous and unpredictable.

THIS IS AWESOME! I grew up near this bridge and heard stories about this from my parents growing up. Thanks for doing this from here in Upstate NY!

With all the misinformation out there I would absolutely LOVE to see you cover the Great Chicago Fire.

I joined the Navy in 1984 and was stationed overseas in Spain from 1985 to 1988 , so I never heard of this unfortunate accident . News coming from the United States was very limited and the only TV staion that did any broadcasting was AFARTS ( ARMED FORCES RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE) and they only broad - cast on base and not out in town . Most Americans stationed in Spain lived out in town and not on the base .

I would consider the disaster higher than 3 due to a few things. First, the hardship caused by the bridge's absence. There wasn't a good detour. Second, the fact that this was extremely preventable, but wasn't. Third, the fact that even when the original concrete cap was put in, scour was a known thing and wasn't considered a contributing factor to the cracks.

Great Informational Video, Subscribed!

You should do the Mianus river bridge collapse that’s classic neglect and design flaw and happened near me when I was a kid.

Love your disaster documentaries. Rip to those who perished.

Atlanta has quite a few bridge-based incidents you could look into!

Drove over it on my way back from Amsterdam to Buffalo the day before it collapsed.

Thanks John, from John...

Great video, thanks!

Wow. I'd never thought I'd see upstate NY on here. The Schoharie creek is just one of those things to keep an eye every rain season. I'm not surprised the bridge was improperly kept. You can still see the columns where the bridge stood.

This one was close to home, literally. I lived in the area at the time and I remember it well. You did an excellent job of documenting the event. Other than mispronouncing Schoharie, which is understandable if you're not familiar with U.S. east coast Native American names.

I will never forget this collapse. My parents always felt that that bridge was not safe during the numerous floods and would comment on it during our numerous trips to Boston from the Finger Lakes area. After the collapse, the detour was excruciatingly long. I never felt comfortable going over the Schoharie again (not just on the Thruway).

As horrifying as most of these disasters are, your captions and drawings keep making me laugh.

Love your stuff. Look forward to it all week. Keep up the great work! Coming to you from a sunny, cool windy corner of northern Indiana, USA 😂

Another great vid, thankyou

"Woman Might Get Reprieve to Build Ark" - Gotta love American local newspapers....

My mom has a phobia of bridges -- driving over bridges, no matter how short, gives her anxiety. She hates the sounds and vibrations as she goes over a bridge and she hates heights, so when driving over bridges that connect mountains over valleys in particular, she voices her discomfort. She told me there were publicized bridge disasters from when she was a kid, and then low level bridges (really common in our area) flooding causing deaths of bold drivers (also sadly common in our area) basically solidified this fear in her. This made me super conscious of bridge safety as a kid, at 9 years old I was asking for engineering information and my dad gave me resources to understand how they were designed and kept safe, prevent erosion from ice, stable with wind, etc. So stuff like this doesn't surprise me. Conspiracy theorists claiming that the latest publicized bridge tragedy is "unexplainable" is incredibly laughable, as I was dedicated to understanding it at a really young age so I could try to bring my mom comfort about what bridges we passed were safe and what she should rightfully avoid. Hopefully, your videos will also help to show people that these tragedies are never far off, and can be prevented.

Growing up in upstate New York, I not only remember this but know someone within 2 miles of it. This was also a problem that occurred in the 70's also on the New York Thruway. You'd think that they would have been more attentive. The pay out does not reflect the true loss of life nor the cost of disruption of life and business in that local. Just the costs or investigation and rebuilding far outreach that measly settlement.

Thanks John, your videos rule!

Just drove over this bridge on Tuesday on the way back down from trying to see the eclipse. Looks like every other bridge.

John I need stickers of your vehicle designs! Some great ones in this video. Keep up the great content and awesome music!

Great video!

Always interesting and informative content and i love the funny cartoon guy always popping up in there. Looking forward to watching your video on the current disaster when all the info is in. Been watching your videos on bridge disasters for a while now.

Another bridge disaster you could look into is the Ironworkers Memorial Bridg in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I grew up knowinf that workers died when the bridge collapsed during construction, but not more than that

As life remains Plainly Difficult, so too does explaining why life is so Plainly Difficult. Thus, we watch this Plainly Difficult channel to explain why life is so Plainly Difficult for us. ... This was an exercise in how many times I can fit the phrasing into one short paragraph structure, please keep making these videos so we can learn from the past.

This tragedy took place 30min from where I live. A bunch of guys at work, including my father remember seeing it on the news. Absolutely terrifying way to go. May the victims and families find peace.

Took me 2 minutes and 3 rewinds to hear the name properly 😂 I'm from the general area; I kept hearing "school hairy" and was like where tf is that in NYS? 😭😂

I so enjoy your content 😊

You're so good!

I’m working on a research project at Fort Lewis College centered around creating a drone that can be deployed and automatically scan the riverbed to detect scour and prevent things like this. We are in the super early stages, but once finished it’ll allow counties everywhere to prevent this with a $1000 drone rather than a $50000 truck.

Oh yeah, I've seen this covered a few times before.

I wonder what happened to the lady building an ark in the newspaper...

I love how this Minnesota bridge disaster caused all disaster channels to do bridge disaster vids from lesser known disaster

This collapse was especially important because the Thruway is a busy Interstate, and there aren't any adequate alternatives anywhere near there

Love your videos, you should look into the collapse of the West Gate Bridge during construction in Melbourne, Australia. Such a tragic incident

I immediately thought of your video on Sunshine Skyway... and Tasman... and I-40...

One of my mothers childhood friends was on the bridge when it collapsed. Both her and her daughter died. My mother still talks about her friend to this day.

Have you done the 1993 Amtrak derailment on the Big Bayou Canot bridge in Alabama?

I grew up in Schoharie county, NY, and these kind of flooding problems are not only frequent, but continue to this day. Check out the floods in June, 2006 that caused major highway collapses due to mudslides, or even Hurricane Irene in 2011, which leveled the towns of Schoharie and Middleburgh simultaneously. I was there for both events. Hell, just Google the Gilboa Dam and that’s probably all you need to know if you know anything about neglect and engineering flaws. There are flood sirens all around every valley in this county, and for good reason. Much love and respect for all who were impacted and lost. All I can say is, this county gets WET. EDIT: We don’t pronounce it “SCARY County” just because we’re hicks

On the Bingo card, i would argue for Temporary fix to be used aswell; Cause there is no way they thought that putting a slab of concrete on top of the crack was a permanent solution to the problem

nice to watch with a cup of coffee ☕😊👍

Thank you

4:50 that Synth line was fitting perfectly

Not surprisingly bridge disasters are the subject of the moment with disaster explainers lately. This wouldn't be possible if there weren't so many. I'm beginning to think tunnel underpasses aren't the extravagance I once believed them to be. Yes I watch other merchants of doom than just you (jk) but others just recite the sequence of events, only you give the analysis I crave.

Great vid as always. Could you leave the bingo card up at the end a bit longer in future videos so we don't have to pause it to see what you got please

Thank you for introducing us to Kea's Ark!

If i have learned anything from plainly difficult its that every build/bridge is about to collapse and is highly radioactive

You might be interested in the collapse of the Indian River bridge, back in the 80’s in Greenwich, CT. At least one span of the Interstate 95 fell into the river, I believe in the southbound lanes. It was early in the morning and several cars went over. Others stopped and flagged down people to prevent them from driving off the end of the bridge, but one arrogant commuter told them to eff off and proceeded to drive right off the bridge, falling to his death. I lived about 15 miles away at the time.

1987 I drove over that bridge at least twice a week. Had family visiting who crossed the bridge the night before the collapse. Sad loss of life for poor design and maintenance, the East West detour was a giant headache for a couple years too.

6:18 - Ms. Tawana building her Ark might have had the right idea.

Being a Minneapolis resident who remembers the I35 bridge collapse, I was following along like everything was normal until the second bridge, at which point I gasped and paused the video with a “What the f*ck?!”

After watching PD for so many years I struggle to drive over a bridge without wondering “Is today the day I end up on Plainly Difficult?” 🤭

John, Please come to Alaska. I have some ship wrecks and other cool stuff to show you under water. We can dive down to a depth of 300 meters. There’s a lot to be explored that deep. 😊🎉❤

similar to the Key Bridge disaster, there was one on 18 january 1980 in Sweden, as the bulk carrier MS Star Clipper hit the Alnö bridge during the foggy night. The bridge fell over the ship's bridge, cutting power making them unable to call for help, while the foggy conditions led to cars keep trying to cross the bridge as they couldn't see the missing section before it was too late. It took 15 minutes before a truck driver managed to discover the collapse in time to stop and block the road for other drivers on his side of the bridge, meanwhile cars kept driving off the other side, in the end resulting in 8 fatalities.