1) In what ways were the project’s planning and scope management appropriate? When did the planners begin taking unknowing or unnecessary risks? Discuss the issue of project constraints and other unique aspects of the bridge in the risk management process. Were these issues taken into consideration? Why or why not?
2) Conduct either a qualitative or quantitative risk assessment on this project. Identify the risk factors that you consider most important for the suspension bridge construction. How would you assess the riskiness of this project? Why?
3) What forms of risk mitigation would you consider appropriate for this project?
The famous story of the bridge that shook itself to pieces is familiar to many students. The background of the story is not as well-known and illustrates what happens when we attempt to be too innovative without recognizing the full implications of our choices. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge (TNB) was built at a site with numerous design challenges and difficulties, including physical location, size and length of the bridge, use of non-optimal materials, and so forth. From a risk analysis perspective, the TNB represents another example of journeying too far into the unknown and only belatedly recognizing the implications of major design decisions.