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What would actually happen in the pictured Dark Knight scenario where a relatively small part of the middle of the the bridge disappears? It seems like if the road deck is sufficiently rigid the vertical suspenders near the middle would realign and provide at least some of the tension force previously supplied by the removed suspension cable. Is there any reason why the bridge must fall?

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It's not clear from the picture, but the article says

> Explosions sever the suspension cables and the road decks all at once

If the cables weren't severed, then it sounds reasonable to me that the rest of the bridge would stay up, although the outer parts would probably droop slightly as the cable in the middle lost some weight.

But if the explosions did actually sever the cables, then the article makes it pretty clear that the whole thing should have collapsed.

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