Construction Failures

This tragedy claimed the lives of 114 people in July 1981 when , during a tea dance , a catastrophic structural failure of an aerial walkway sent hundreds falling four floors down onto a large crowd gathered below . More than 200 people were also injured . The hotel was less than a year old .

Construction had already begun back in 1907 , on the world ’ s largest cantilever bridge before Chief Engineer Theodore Cooper realised an error in the estimated weight of the span . He risked it , and work ploughed on regardless , but inspecting engineers noticed girders bending out of alignment . Other Senior Engineers agreed without Cooper to continue , thinking it not a serious issue . Two days later , the girders gave way , plunging the bridge structure 150 feet and killing 75 workers .

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