The Bridge and Structural Engineer Volume 44 Number 4 December 2014 11 Key words: Bridge collapse, robustness, extrapolation, accident during construction, cantilever construction, sequence of construction. Summary Bridge collapses around the world particularly in United States of America and Germany have been quite rampant and well recorded in literature in all categories viz. failure during construction, failure in service without external action, failure due to impact of ship collision, failure due to impact from WUDIｿF XQGHU WKH EULGJH IDLOXUH GXH WR ﾀRRGLQJ LFH ﾀRHV ﾀRDWLQJ WLPEHU DQG KXUULFDQH IDLOXUH GXH WR ｿUH RU H[SORVLRQ IDLOXUH GXH WR VHLVPLF activity and failure of falsework. Among this category of failures, from the literature it can be observed that failure in service without external action, failure during construction and failure of false works account for lions share in the descending order. However, in the last decade there is an alarming trend of maximum bridge collapses shifting to Asian countries. In a way there could be a relationship between economic growth and bridge collapses analogous to the relationship between infrastructure development and increase in GDP. Very seldom, the primary LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM BRIDGE FAILURES He has more than 30 years of experience of Designing and Constructing Bridges, energy structures OLNH &KLPQH\V  &RROLQJ WRZHUV 0DULQH 6WUXFWXUHV DQG +\GUDXOLF 6WUXFWXUHV HWF +H LV D ｿUVW HQJLQHHU to receive IABSE-Prize (International Association for Bridge & Structural Engineering, Zurich, Switzerland) from developing countries in addition to National Awards like Pt Jawaharlal Nehru &HQWHQDU\ $ZDUG IURP ,5& 3UH 6WUHVVHG &RQFUHWH 'HVLJQ $ZDUG IURP ,QVWLWXWLRQ RI (QJLQHHUV and ICI Awards for best Publications. He has more than 85 papers to his credit and is a member of various IRC (Indian Roads Congress) and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) Committees. He is DOVR D PHPEHU RI ,QGLDQ 0HPEHU &RPPLWWHH RI )HGHUDWLRQ ,QWHUQDWLRQDOH 'X %HWRQ ,0& ｿE +H has been an invited and a keynote speaker in National and International Seminars, Symposiums and Congresses. He has a passion for tall and long structures and he is an ardent advocate of sustainability and aesthetics in construction. causes of structural collapses come out as the disasters involve human and property casualties and the investigations are invariably under subjudice. As such in the paper below only those aspects of the bridge failures with in the public domain are discussed from the angle of learning lessons that too from Indian context. 1. Introduction Structural failures invariably culminate in injury and loss of life as such structural safety is of primary importance right from the inception of conceptual design and should not be calibrated by other objectives like cost, aesthetics and political pressures to complete the job in hurry, etc. The failures and partial failures in majority of cases are caused by one non-vigilant mistake arising because a vital problem has not been recognized, has been underestimated or recklessly treated. In this era of engineering science other load bearing structures like machines, say for example car makers can run a pilot series of simulated load testing to remedy defects before going into mass production, but the one-off nature and V.N. HEGGADE Sr. Vice President & Member Board of Management of Gammon India Limited