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[By Liu Rui/Global Times]

A section of the Qiantang River No.3 Bridge linking Hangzhou's city center with Xiaoshan International Airport collapsed last week, only 14 years after it was finished. The accident was the second bridge collapse in the country in just two days, following a series of similar incidents in recent years.

Corruption and shoddy construction are the usual suspects. Indeed that seems to be the case. The chief manager and deputy manager of the bridge project, formerly high ranking officials of the Hangzhou government, were both convicted of bribery and are now serving time in jail. The actual contractor of that section of the bridge has never been identified, shrouded in a big mess of over a dozen subcontractors, sub-subcontractors and possibly sub-sub-subcontractors.

But in my opinion, this disaster reveals something more profound than corruption and shoddy construction. One theory I have discussed with colleagues lately is that we are likely to see more accidents like these in the next few years, as China's massive public infrastructure program, which started in the latter part of the 1990s, is about to show signs of fatigue.

Fifteen to 20 years is a short time in the eyes of designers and structural engineers of public infrastructure projects. Highways and bridges built under the New Deal in the US served the public well over three quarters of a century before showing signs of fatigue and requiring major repairs. How come things don't last that long in China?

I am sure designers and structural engineers have more than 20 years in mind when they set out on their grandiose projects. But the problem, I hypothesize, is that the whole process, from project evaluation, design to construction and completion, is compromised by the need for speed.

Speed is something the country deeply cherishes. We build things fast and are proud of it. The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway was laid down in about two years. New subway routes in Beijing and Shanghai open every year. There is even a 15-story hotel in the city of Changsha in Hunan Province that was built out of prefabricated units in just six days.

Imagine calling to book a hotel room in Changsha during the busiest days of the year."We are all booked out. But if you could postpone your trip by six days, we will put you in a brand new hotel!"

But in civil engineering, speed is not without cost. I know a bit about that as I designed and acted as my own general contractor for two houses in the US. There are certain laws in civil engineering that are difficult to defy.

For example, are the designs properly validated, with all the engineering data about the building environment collected? Are all the building materials properly tested and certified? In developed countries such as the US, masons are certified and sometimes unionized. In China, we pull migrant workers off the street and hand them a trowel.

There are many other things in civil engineering that takes time. Refilled foundation soil needs to be compacted and let settle before pouring concrete over. Poured concrete needs to dry naturally for a few days to gain strength before anything can be added on top. In winter when temperatures are low, concrete work has to halt to avoid weakened construction.

In the around-the-clock three-shift construction that is common in China, are all these little things compromised to some extent in the relentless pursuit of the Chinese speed? In the name of cutting time, are we also cutting corners?

The speed that won China fame in the last two decades has brewed a series of Tiny Leaps Forward - little jumps here and there that combined can cause catastrophes. Maybe it is time for us to take a breath and slow down a bit.

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