I have two big fears: I’m afraid of heights and drowning. So driving over bridges always gives me the irrational fear of the bridge collapsing into the water, causing me to both fall from a scary height and drowning. Even on big brand-new ones. It seems that some Greek drivers have no such fear, as there’s currently a bridge that’s collapsing into the water below it but that hasn’t stopped people from driving across it.
Storm Daniel hit central Greece hard almost three years ago, causing floods that wrecked much if the infrastructure, including bridges, houses, and farmland. One example is a bridge in Larissa that connects two municipalities split by a river. Without the bridge, drivers need to go far out of their way to cross over, which seems like too much of a hassle for some impatient, brave drivers. So since the bridge is sorta kinda still intact, just with a big cracking dip in the middle of it, they drive across anyway. Maybe fuel costs are just that high.
It’s unclear why the bridge hasn’t been repaired yet, or at least completely blocked off so that no one can drive over it, but locals have expressed their concerns with the local government about fixing it.
Bravery or stupidity? Perhaps both
Recent drone footage shows a pickup truck driving slowly over the bridge, which seems terribly ill-advised. While the bridge isn’t very high, and the river doesn’t look very deep, having any bridge collapse under your car and dropping you into rubble-filled water probably isn’t great. I’m no structural engineer but I can’t see how the bridge is even still up. It’s broken in four places and is sagging low enough for its belly to touch the water. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before someone’s car becomes the final straw.
Tourists and travelers reportedly run into even more trouble. Since the bridge looks fine when you’re looking out of your windshield from either side, travelers passing through don’t realize it’s broken until they’re almost halfway across. That leads to some pants-ruining, ABS-inducing braking and reversing. Is there not even warning signage? Exacerbating the issue is that the Google Maps street view of the bridge shows that it’s still intact. So if people are planning a route, they’ll assume they can drive right through.
Hopefully this bridge gets fixed soon, or at least barricaded. It seems like only a matter of time before the next crossing is the last.
