The collapse of a 2.9-km-long elevated highway claimed nine lives and left 16 injured on Sunday in Zhuzhou, Central China's Hunan Province. While the cause of the accident is still under investigation, the foremost question which the local government must answer is: Why did the highway designed for a life span of 50 years crash just 14 years after it was built.

Actually, this elevated highway collapsed in the process of being demolished. Part of it had already been blasted before the rest of it crashed. Then another question: Why is an elevated highway being demolished long before it reaches its "old age"?

If it is true that the highway is not wide enough to accommodate the growing traffic and often causes traffic accidents - as officially stated to be the reason for its demolition - then a thorough investigation is needed to find out why it was so designed 14 years ago, who made the decisions, and the rationale for those decisions.