Not having this happen is a big part of the engineering that goes into modern bridges.

This just screams "cost cutting" to me, like when the new bridge in Boston had to have a bunch of work redone because the architect specified a specific type and pouring process for the concrete to avoid bubbles and then a year or two later they had a bunch of bubbles because they had cut him out of the process as soon as his design was done and then ignored his specs, both to save money. Between that and then getting about halfway through construction before they realized they'd messed up and one end was about 18" higher than the design so they weren't going to meet in the middle properly, it's a miracle that thing was ever finished at all.