“Highway 35W North was closed for resurfacing at the time and it was quite hot here today so, it’s entirely likely that those were factors and not terrorism.”
Does steel melt at 90 degrees?
Sometimes in very hot weather here the highway surface will buckle upwards, making a ridge in the road.
not the heat melting steel, BUT...the heat causes steel and concrete to expand quite a bit...it’s possible the expansion joint expanded and slipped off a cross member and the rest came down like dominoes...
Seems they’ve been resurfacing etc. so maybe some of the expansion joints were wide open??
No. But it does expand as the temperature rises, which could cause parts of the structure to buckle unless proper expansion joints are incorporated in the design.
Also, the bridge is a quarter mile from the Metrodome where a Twins game is about to get underway. Zoom out on the map and you will see it in the lower left hand corner of the map. Some of the traffic may have been people going to the game. Now there are thunderstorms are moving in. Sheesh!