Bridge falls into Mississippi River

[jams]

No excuse for this! Just happend so no reports of those injured or killed!


MINNEAPOLIS - The entire span of an interstate bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.
The Interstate 35W bridge, which spans between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was under construction when it broke into several huge sections.
It was not clear how many people were injured. A burning truck and a school bus clung to one slanted slab, while at least eight cars and a truck were submerged in the river.
The bus had just crossed the bridge before it crumpled into pieces, and broadcast reports indicated the children on the bus exited out the back door.
Dozens of vehicles were scattered and stacked on top of each other amid the rubble. Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water.
Local television stations captured video of injured people being carried up the riverbank. There was no official word on injuries, but dozens of rescue vehicles were there. Divers were also in the water.
Gregory Wernick Sr., Rockford, Ill., drove over the bridge shortly before the collapse. He stopped to get a drink nearby and heard commotion so he went back.
"I figure I crossed about 10 minutes before it happened," he said. "That's just too close to call."
He was standing about 200 feet away on top of a parking ramp with large group of people.
"I've never seen anything like this," he said.
The Homeland Security Department had received no indications Wednesday night that the collapse was an act of terrorism, department spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington.
"We continue to monitor the situation. At this time, there's no indication of a nexus to terrorism," Knocke said.

[65LA]

If anyone is interested -- I've listed a couple local websites with updated news...although, I'm sure it'll be in national news throughout the recovery process. It's hard to believe something like this could happen - let alone here in Minneapolis; not that I'd wish for anything like this to happen anywhere else. Not sure if the news really reflects this - but this bridge is 8 lanes wide --just for people to get a concept of how large this was. Only 2 lanes were being used due to surface repair - all I can say it's a good thing that all 8 lanes were not being used -

www.startribune.com
www.kare11.com

[Ron61]

Another link to the latest news story. According to this one in 2005 the bridge was inspected and found to be a candidate to be replaced as it was starting to get structurally weaker.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/...ridge_collapse

Ron

[jams]

For you NJ Folks,

I think it is only a matter of time before the Paluski Skyway(Jersey City area) falls. Have you seen the shape of that overpass.! Rusted Steel connected with rusty rivots!

[Ron61]

Jams,

They have been working for a year now on the main bridge on I-5 that crosses an arm of Shasta Lake as chunks had fallen out and you could look through the holes and re-bar and see the water about 100' below. Also the railroad bridge runs right under the highway bridge, so if a section of the highway collapsed, it would take the railroad too. A lot of this problem had to do with lack of maintenance plus the bridge was not really built for the amount of heavy truck traffic it has over it now.

Ron

[jams]

Ron--
It looks like NJ and CA have a lot in common!

[Ron61]

Jams,

The day before an overpass that they were constructing at Oroville which is about 60 miles South-East of here collapsed and crushed a FedEx truck. No one was killed but a few were hurt. And this one hadn't even been finished yet. Now the finger pointing will begin.

Ron

[jams]

Now for the typically politically response to tradegy....We must inspect every bridge nationwide!

[Ron61]

Right. Then file the reports and wait until the next one collapses to bring them out to use as proof that many of the bridges and over passes were in need of repair long ago. From what I saw on the news which could or could not be true, this bridge was rated at a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best. But the Governor said on TV that just being a 4 meant it would be due for repair or replacement sometime in the future. Most of these older bridges and overpasses weren't built to carry the traffic they have today, and especially the huge amount of heavily loaded trucks.

Ron

[bomelia]

Wanna guess how long it will take to pin this on Bush?

mike

[4RE KLR]

It already has been Mike, did you not see the clip on CNN?

[jams]

Maybe the same missile that took down flight 800 struck the bridge. Conspiracy theory!

[bomelia]

No, did not see it. Did hear that Tony Snow performed a preemptive strike by issueing a notice that the Feds declared the bridge "structurally defective" 10 years agao, and once more in 2000. So, I guess it's Clinton's fault. Must be some kind of "wall" issue.

Mike

[4RE KLR]

Well they are trying to clear the air here by stating that "structurally deficient" does not mean the bridge is bad or not doing its job or carrying its load.

They are saying that it means the bridge does not meet TODAYS standards as outlined by the department of transportation.

They were talking about this because Bush had asked for inspection reports on several bridges. Did not say if this was one of the ones he asked about. It is not sure if any action was taken on any bridges he did receive information about.

I do live in Texas but not close enough to Crawford to see if all the bridges have been replaced there. (just kidding )

[Ron61]

Most of our infrastructure is just getting old and they haven't kept any repairs up at all. In Northern California they only repair something on I-5, which is our main North/South freeway when it starts to crumble. And all of the overpasses and bridges were built way back when there wasn't much traffic and just wasn't designed to handle the amount or heavy trucks that travel over them now. The sad thing is, this seems to be a common thing in most of the states.

Now I know why the law schools are full. Getting ready for all the lawsuits they can file as the bridges fall. Sorry to all the lawyers out there. I just couldn't resist.

Ron

[jams]

Alright here is a cranky point of view. Factoring out the loss of life, which is a horrible tragedy.

The bridge obviously needed repair. Since it wasn't done at the state level-it has to be replaced. The federal government is now going to help out financially with federal tax dollars to replace the bridge.

Now all taxpayers have to pay for the mistakes and lack of maintenance at the state level?

[VRM]

Originally Posted by bomelia

Wanna guess how long it will take to pin this on Bush?

mike

Mike, if you are looking for someone to blame - go for the politicians who need to spend our taxes on illegal immigrants, a war we don't need, and individual and corporate welfare. That is just about all of them, isn't it?
Then go ahead and blame the people who keep voting for those politicians. That pretty much covers all of us, right?

The states are broke. Two days before the bridge collapsed one of the local news stations did a report saying the MA bridges and other infrastructure needs $19 billion to be up to code. How are we going to get the money? Increase the state gas tax is one of the things being looked at. But on top of that, as Jams said, now I have to help pay for a bridge in another state as well.

Steve

[Excaliber]

We had a reservoir dam collapse here in Hawaii about a year ago, killed 7 people. The State ordered immediate inspections of all the dams, never heard what became of the inspection. The dam that did collapse was said to be owned by a private party, but was subject to State inspection, which the State failed to do. Lawsuits are flying left and right!

[wtm442]

All of the states are in a bad position when it comes to bridges and dams. The maintenance issue is where any politicians knows that he/she can scrimp and let the problem fall on his/her successor.

There is a bridge that goes out to one of the Boston Harbor Islands (Long Island). Access across the bridge is limited (cop in gate house). Any bus that is full has to drop off half of the people before it goes over the 1/2 mile long bridge, and then come back empty to pick up the other half of the people.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news02.txt

It was open to the public when I was a kid. We used to race our cars out there. One of the roads is about 1 mile long and straight as an arrow! I'd love to get the Cobra out there but I've been turned away about 3 times I've tried.

[Ron61]

Well this mornings news said that all the bridges and overpasses in this state are going to be inspected. Ernie knows about the Pit River Bridge and it was a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 and they are spending 2 years repairing it to keep it from falling and taking the railroad into the lake with it. I believe the report said that over 90% of the bridges and overpasses inspected are very low on the scale, but there is no danger of them falling. Now watch two or three of them collapse within the next month. But they claim that our bridges are stronger as they are built to modern earthquake standards. Even so, many were built before the newest laws and a rating of 4 out of 10 with 10being top does not give me a lot of confidence.

Ron