Posted on 05/15/2004 10:17:04 AM PDT by sathers
Very, very sad.
Victims came to Colo. seeking safer environs
By Steve Lipsher
Denver Post Staff Writer
William "Billy" and Anita Post moved with their 2-year-old daughter, Koby Ann, to Colorado from New York just last year, seeking a safer place to raise a family.
All three were killed instantly Saturday when their vehicle was struck by a falling 40-ton girder.
"Everyone in the family is just in a state of shock. You just don't expect this to happen," said Debra Crawford, Anita Post's cousin from Texas. "It's horrible. It's tragic."
The young family had been traveling on Interstate 70 east out of the mountains when a steel construction girder from an overpass collapsed onto their Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle shortly after 10 a.m.
With no warning, their lives came to an abrupt end, leaving family members struggling to understand why such a random tragedy befell three "precious, precious people."
"They were just salt of the earth, absolutely. I don't think they could spell a bad word, much less say it. They were just fine, precious people," Crawford said.
Billy and Anita Post sought to escape the rat race of New York and settled on horse property in Evergreen because he had a cousin here, Crawford said.
Not even close on this tragedy. . .
Was the beam in the process of being lowered into place when it failed? If so, then why was traffic permitted to operate underneath it before it was fully secured?
Typically traffic is stopped or rerouted when something like that beam is being set. That's safety 101. I've seen beams set at night so traffic is not affected during peak flow periods.
It's difficult to tell when the beam was placed. I don't see any light plants which would be on location for night work. Some states now require contractors to work at night to minimize traffic disruption. I also don't see the number of workers and parked vehicles that would indicate a crew working. Some of that could be out of the picture.
The crane being positioned the way it is could indictate a lift in progress with the caveat that I'm not sure the steel was designed to be "picked" from the middle. The weight isn't that much but the length makes a big difference. The other crane could be out of the frame. Picking a beam the wrong way could result in it buckling but that didn't happen from the picture. I don't see any buckling at the midpoint. The general feel I get is there should be more things in the picture to indicate activity. The number of "inspectors" could be the work crew. It's hard to figure. Whoever did the writeup produced a poor article.
An overhead photo would tell much more.
4 confirmed now...Mom was pregnant.
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