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KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2009 – Afghan leaders and coalition members celebrated the opening of a bridge in Uruzgon province that promises residents a vibrant new connection to surrounding communities. Afghan villagers walk across the Chutu Bridge to mark its opening in Deh Rawood district, Uruzgon province, Dec. 30, 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. John Gay  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. More than 250 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Chutu Brige in the Deh Rawood district for what officials say was the largest construction project in the area for 2008. Afghan construction workers and...

This year for Christmas I decided to build something out of gingerbread. I didn't want to build the typical gingerbread house so I decided to do a bridge of some sort.

Is it just me or do the words Kennedy and bridge conjure up images of Ted Kennedy going off one at Chappaquiddick? And honestly, don't we have enough landmarks named after JFK and RFK already? Apparently not.Several generations of Robert F. Kennedy's family have gathered for a ceremony renaming New York City's Triborough Bridge in honor of the slain senator and U.S. attorney general.Kennedy's wife, Ethel, sons Joseph and Robert Jr., and daughter Kerry were joined Wednesday by dignitaries — including former President Bill Clinton — in a Queens park at the foot of the bridge.Kennedy was assassinated in 1968...

WASHINGTON — The Interstate 35W bridge collapsed because of forces so great a massive piece of steel was stretched as if it were latex, eventually ripping apart and causing one of the biggest transportation disasters in U.S. history. Holding the first of a two-day hearing before it releases final findings and recommendations, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday the collapse in Minneapolis was caused by a fatal design error. The error allowed an accumulation of weight added to the bridge over its 40-year lifespan — plus the weight associated with a new construction project — to finally topple it,...

BAGHDAD, Nov. 12, 2008 – Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division’s 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, attended a bridge reopening ceremony in northwestern Baghdad’s Kadhamiyah district yesterday. Northwestern Baghdad’s Al Aima Bridge, which has been closed since a deadly stampede in 2005, reopened in northwestern Baghdad’s Kadhamiyah district Nov. 11, 2008, as a result of the combined efforts of local leaders and Iraqi and coalition forces. U.S. Army photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Al Aima Bridge had been closed since 2005 when a deadly stampede...

California faces a massive deficit even higher than projected in recent weeks - $11.2 billion this fiscal year -- Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said Wednesday. Without immediate intervention, the nightmare could total an additional $13 billion next fiscal year, according to Perata, citing numbers he said came from the governor's office. The Oakland Democrat said the budget gap cannot be bridged by cuts alone, and that he supports raising revenues by restoring vehicle license fees and taxing offshore oil production. Together, the two tax proposals would generate about $7 billion per year - though considerably less in the...

Golden Gate Bridge officials vote for suicide net SAN FRANCISCO — Golden Gate Bridge officials have voted to hang a stainless steel net below the iconic span to stop suicides. The Golden Gate Transportation District's board of directors voted 14-1...

Governor Pawlenty and other officials announced Monday when the new Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis will open. The bridge will open to traffic on Thursday at 5 a.m., just over a year after the old one tragically collapsed into the Mississippi River and cut off a key Minneapolis artery. Pawlenty was joined on Monday at a news conference on the new bridge by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and members of Minnesota's congressional delegation. Officials also announced plans for a memorial to honor the victims of the August 1st, 2007, collapse of the old I-35W bridge that killed 13 people and...

Here is former aide to Gov. Sarah Palin, Meg Stapleton, explaining to CNN's Wolf Blitzer the reality of Gov. Palin's role in killing the so-called, "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska. Democrats are claiming Gov. Plain is lying about her role in killing the project, saying she actually favored it. Stapleton explains that Gov. Palin at first supported the concept of a Bridge to the residents of the area in need, but once she became Governor and learned the final plans for the Bridge and the massive nature of it's cost, she made the decision to kill the project. Clearly, Wolf...

There've been lots of thing written the past couple days about Palin's alleged flip-flop on the Gravina Island and Knik Arm Bridges (aka, Bridges to Nowhere). The Wikipedia articles, like most, need to be read with a grain of salt, but there are a number of sources listed and a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knik_Arm_Bridge Let's summarize the salient points about the Bs2N and how it affects Palin's candidacy: 1) Palin did support the bridge projects when running for governor. No controversy there; it's well known and was a point, albeit a minor one, in the gubernatorial campaign. The...

Local residents and Iraqi government officials celebrated the opening of a bridge Aug. 28, 2008, uniting the cities of Najaf and Kufa, south of Baghdad. Among those officials attending was Iraq Vice President Adil Abdal-Mahdi who said the project shows the government’s commitment to improve people’s lives. USACE photo. KUFA --- During the recent opening ceremony of a new bridge south of Baghdad, Iraq's vice president said the $6.5 million project shows the Iraqi government's commitment to improving people’s lives in poorer areas that were ignored by the former regime. "Projects such as the new Imam Ali Bridge will help...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 27, 2008 – Members of the Australian Reconstruction Task Force and Task Force Castle’s 420th Engineer Brigade completed the emplacement of two Mabey Johnson bridges near Andar and Moqur in eastern Afghanistan. Army Spc. Corey Thompson, 420th Engineer Brigade, works with Australian combat engineers as they align two sections of a bridge. U.S. Army photo by Capt. James Reid, Combined Task Force Castle  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Insurgent attacks during the summer left the bridges impassible, forcing Afghans and coalition forces to use single-lane bypasses. Work progressed quickly once the Australian and American...

FALLUJAH — Iraqi Army Soldiers, operating in an area shared by Regimental Combat Team 1, escorted local sheiks and tribal leaders across a newly constructed bridge in the Bagharra region of Iraq, Aug. 19. The passage marked the re-opening of the Salem Bridge, an important link in connecting local citizens with cities on the other side of the Thar Thar Canal. Insurgents had demolished the original bridge with improvised explosive devices more than a year ago, forcing locals to travel nearly five hours to cross the canal. “Before this bridge opened, the people were suffering,” said 2nd Lt. Nasser Kazzoy,...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

ALBANY - Warning of an approaching economic calamity, Gov. Paterson yesterday called an emergency session of the state Legislature - and raised the specter that New York may have to sell off roads, bridges and tunnels to close a massive budget deficit.

The fallen span of the southbound lane on the Grand Canal Bridge in Taji, northwest of Baghdad, floats in the water underneath the bridge. The damage was caused by a vehicle-born improvised explosive device which was detonated on August 14, 2007. Photo by Pfc. Lyndsey Dransfield, 2nd Stryker Brigade 25th Infantry Division. CAMP TAJI — Engineers with 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,� 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, journeyed to the Grand Canal Bridge in Taji Qada, northwest of Baghdad, July 22, to monitor repair progress. The bridge, which spans a portion of the Grand Canal and is...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

Old photos of the Interstate 35W bridge show two steel connecting plates were visibly bent as early as 2003 — four years before the span collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. Minnesota Department of Transportation officials declined to say when the state first knew about the bending in the pieces of steel, called gusset plates. Two photos, part of a report issued earlier this month by the National Transportation Safety Board, reveal slight bends in gusset plates that hold beams together at two separate connecting points. The plates are in areas believed to be among the first points...

Rotting holes in steel support beams, enormous rust patches, small splits in steel girders and broken bracing are evident all along the underside of the John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge, the heavily traveled Interstate 95 span that crosses the Merrimack River between Amesbury and Newburyport. A just-released state safety report filed in the wake of last year's disastrous collapse of the similarly designed Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis gave the 57-year-old Whittier Bridge "poor" ratings due to deterioration. On a 10-step ranking system, the rating is just two steps above the point where engineers consider closing a bridge due to safety...

At 6:05 p.m. on Aug. 1, silence will fall along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. And those standing along the river's banks will remember that at that moment one year ago, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring hundreds of others. A prayer service on Aug. 1 at the Basilica of St. Mary followed by an outdoor memorial service at Gold Medal Park on the Mississippi River will mark the first anniversary of the bridge collapse. "It was one of the worst days that I will ever be part of that ironically showed...

NY's Triborough Bridge To Be Renamed For RFKReported by: Clyde Gray Last Update: 6/05 4:01 pm The bridge leading to New York's JFK Airport will soon be named for the former president's younger brother. Governor David Paterson is set to sign a measure to rename the Triborough Bridge after New York Senator "Bobby" Kennedy. At the time of his death, he was running for the democratic presidential nomination.

Sgt. Matthew Burket, a native of Sandwich, Ill., entertains children from Abu Ghuraib, a neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, June 5. Burket is assigned to 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. His unit provided security for local national workers and Iraqi army soldiers during a barrier emplacement mission on Leaders Bridge. Photo by Sgt. Paul Monroe. BAGHDAD — Packed cars, meandering pedestrians and the occasional donkey pulling a cart fill the busy streets of Baghdad daily. Couple this with roads blocked off by Iraqi security and coalition forces to lessen...

WATERLOO — One-half of the Sixth Street railroad bridge over the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo has washed away in the flood waters. Half the bridge remains. We will provide more details as they become available. Also, the city of Cedar Falls has now expanded its area of evacuation.

Metro doesn't dismiss a Portland-to-Vancouver "mega-bridge" with up to 12 lanes A divided Metro Council on Thursday endorsed building a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River that will extend light-rail transit into Vancouver from Portland, require tolls to cross and have room for pedestrians and bicyclists. The 5-2 decision, after a six-hour public hearing, did not specify how many lanes the bridge should have. Rather, it established Metro's position on what may be the region's costliest public works project in a generation. Also, it rejected a proposal to back off from what critics called an unnecessary "mega-bridge" solution....

BAGHDAD, May 30, 2008 – The promise of a prosperous future for Iraq took one step closer to becoming a reality when the Sarafiyah Bridge linking Baghdad’s Rusafa and Karkh districts was reopened May 27 after being rebuilt. Members of an Iraqi color guard stand ready to receive Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the May 27, 2008, reopening of the Sarafiyah Bridge, which links Baghdad’s Rusafa and Karhk districts. The bridge, built by the British during the 1940s, was destroyed in a vehicle-bomb attack April 12, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jerome Bishop, Multinational Division Baghdad  (Click photo...

Sheikh Salah (left), a prominent sheikh in Busayefi, cuts the ribbon on a new bridge May 13. The bridge, constructed by an Iraqi company and funded by the GoI, spans the Mercedes Canal and links the communities of Hawr Rajab and Busayefi. Courtesy photo. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Brightly painted flowers, hearts and polka-dots color the new bridge with cheery symbols.  Most importantly, the bridge’s construction between the communities of Busayefi and Hawr Rajab paints a symbol of unity. Once under the control of insurgents, the communities became isolated; they were also separated from each other by the Mercedes...

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- Operation Mountain Highway II began in Afghanistan's eastern Nuristan province in late April. The operation started April 22 when Soldiers from International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan National Army made a simultaneously night air assault onto three mountains above Gowerdesh Bridge. Afghan and American Soldiers created Observation Posts Mace, Hatchet and Brick, which enabled the Afghan Border Police and ANA to drive up from the south and seize the bridge April 26. "It was (a very) synchronized air assault to get everybody in," said Capt. John Williams, commander of the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry's Headquarters...

NEW YORK - The Brooklyn Bridge is 125 years old this month and New York City is getting ready to celebrate. The city on Monday announced an array of activities including a special bridge lighting, concerts, lectures, film series and family events. The five-day festivities will kick off on May 22 with a performance by the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, and a Grucci fireworks presentation. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Manhattan across the East River, and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the country. It will be lit up in an array...

TIKRIT — A ribbon cutting ceremony officially opening two temporary bridges in Bayji was held May 8. These two bridges, which expand over the Tigris River, will promote more trade and stimulate the economy of the region by allowing the people of the provinces of Salah ad Din and Kirkuk to unite. Iraqi Security Forces helped to set the conditions in the area to make it possible to reconstruct the bridge, symbolizing the dedication of the ISF. With the skilled workmanship of the Iraqi Army Field Engineer Company who along with the Coalition Forces, built this monument to the people...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will open the world's longest cross-sea bridge on Thursday, linking the financial and commercial hub of Shanghai with the booming port and industrial city of Ningbo, the official Xinhua news agency said. The 11.8 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) cable-stayed structure, spanning Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang Province south of Shanghai, will be open to traffic on a trial basis at midnight following an inauguration ceremony on Thursday afternoon, Xinhua said. The 36 km span will shorten travel time between Shanghai and Ningbo, two key port cities in China's prosperous Yangtze River Delta, to two-and-a-half hours from...

SNOHOMISH — The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it's not fit for human habitation. Unless you're a sex offender, that is.The underside of the 88th Street bridge, near this river town's greenhouses and horse farms, is where state government last week assigned a released rapist to sleep. David J. Torrence, who assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1995, had completed his latest prison term (for failing to register as a sex offender.) He had no place to go. So officials gave him a sleeping bag...

He lived in a $500,000 house, drove a Cadillac Escalade SUV, and talked about his fraternity brothers. But Johnny Lee Reed IV felt the world closing in on him. Worried and increasingly desperate, Reed had spent days trying to convince authorities that someone was bugging his car, his e-mail and his phones, and that his family was in danger. On Thursday, Reed's dramatic standoff shut down the Walt Whitman Bridge for 31/2 hours, snarling evening rush-hour traffic throughout the region. Ultimately, one of the very authorities Reed had petitioned talked him away from the middle of the 3,500-foot span. Yesterday,...

Osama Bin Laden's brother plans Africa-Arabia bridge By Mike Pflanz, East Africa Correspondent Last Updated: 5:52pm GMT 24/02/2008 Osama bin Laden's half-brother is planning to build the world's second longest bridge to connect Africa and Arabia with a six-lane motorway and a railway. Click to enlarge: The bridge would span the 18 mile stretch across the narrowest part of the Red Sea Tarek Bin Laden has been wooing the governments of Djibouti and Yemen with his £35bn idea to bridge the 18 mile span across the narrowest stretch of the Red Sea. Djibouti's prime minister said there was growing excitement...

Police in the Czech republic are trying to find out who stole a 4 tonne railway bridge from the border town of Cheb. The company which was responsible for looking after the bridge raised the alarm when, ever alert, they noticed that the bridge wasn't there any more. The bridge was on a disused stretch of line just outside Cheb. Martina Hruskova, a spokeswoman for the Czech police, commented to AFP: 'We are not sure if it was taken for personal use or for its scrap value.' Exactly what that 'personal use' might be was left unsaid. 'It is the...

CAMP RAMADI — The engineers had the first span of the bridge ready to go out on the river, but when the water levels were checked, the river had risen 24 inches in an hour. It didn’t stop the Soldiers from the 814th Engineer Company; it only forced them to adjust their plan and raise the 30-foot section of the bridge a little higher to get it on the pontoon floating in the river. The weather would prove to be the most difficult challenge in building the 120-meter Mabey Logistics Support Bridge spanning the Euphrates River over the course of...

PennDOT ordered the emergency closure of the Birmingham Bridge this morning due to an unexplained drop of up to 8 inches in a portion of the span over the Monongahela River. The drop, apparently noticed overnight by a motorist who called 911, occurred on the span linking Fifth Avenue, Uptown, to the South Side. The inbound, or nothbound, lanes were likewise ordered closed, at 8:45 a.m., to allow for a comprehensive inspection of the entire bridge, which really is two independent superstructures. Crews were working to shore up the western edge of the outbound span where the roadway had dropped...

Body Found May Be Last Ala. Bridge Child Monday January 21, 2008 1:16 AM By GARRY MITCHELL Associated Press Writer MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A body believed to be the last of four children who were allegedly tossed from a coastal Alabama bridge by their father was recovered Sunday, authorities said. The body of an Asian child was found in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana by boaters who contacted Coast Guard officials, who then took the body to Venice, La., Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said. Authorities in Alabama will not be able to confirm whether the body is...

Sunday, 5:50 p.m. (Jan. 20) -Body of small Asian child found near Venice, Louisiana. -An autopy will determine if it is 2 year old Hannah Luong. -The Coast Guard in New Orleans received a call around 10 a.m. that a body had been found near Plaquemines Parish.

The collapse of the St. Anthony Bridge in Minneapolis started with a design flaw in the gusset plates, confirming suspicions that arose in the first week of the investigation. A source familiar with the conclusion told CNN earlier this morning that the NTSB will announce that finding later today, ending speculation that poor maintenance caused the deaths of 13 people last August: Federal investigators have identified a design flaw as the cause of last year's Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, a congressional official said Tuesday. The official, who was briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board,...

The body of one of four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge by their father was recovered Saturday, Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran announced. At a press conference this morning, Cochran said, "The inevitable nightmare that we had feared has now been confirmed." A search of waterways around Dauphin Island for the children - ranging in age from a few months to 3 years - began Tuesday. The father, Lam Luong, has been charged with capital murder in the deaths. According to CBS affiliate WKRG, the body of an infant was found this morning by a duck hunter about...

PHARR, Texas -- A fiery crash on a bridge that spans the United States' border with Mexico left at least four people dead. It happened Thursday night on the Texas side of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge and involved at least five vehicles, including two tractor-trailers.

MOBILE, Ala.) Jan. 10 -- The suspect accused of causing the deaths of his four children, Lam Luong, had his first court appearance before a judge on Thursday. The judge was tough, the court appearance routine. It's what happened after that court hearing that is now causing confusion. Luong met with his court-appointed attorney, Joe Kulakowski, minutes after the hearing on Thursday. The lawyer recorded his conversation with Luong and, it was during that conversation the accused man told his lawyer he did NOT throw his children off the bridge. The accused man explained he had been questioned repeatedly by...

An attentive Samarra Teacher College student hears the answer to her question from the Salahahdin Provincial Gov. Hamad Hamoud Shekti. Hamad, along with local and 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) leaders, was in Samarra to reopen a bridge to Iraqi citizen traffic, which officials believe will revitalize the city. Photo by Maj. Johnpaul Arnold, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs. SAMARRA — The city of Samarra reopened its Samarra Dam Bridge Thursday after eight months of traffic restriction due to security, easing access from surrounding communities to its markets and services, with...

We have had a fairly mixed year. Both good stories and bad were bountiful, and sometimes good and bad news came together to neutralize mega-stories. Take Pakistan, where Pervez Musharraf’s lifting of both his military uniform and his country’s State of Emergency was closely followed by the untimely assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Nobody quite knows what the net effect of these events will be.

Reportedly built to make it easier to drive along the scenic southern coast without the significant possibility of a rock crashing through your windshield.

Expressway Was Shut Down In Both Directions; Northbound Lanes Won't Open Until Monday CHICAGO (CBS) ― A bridge overpass sustained severe damage when a dump truck ran into it on the Bishop Ford Freeway late Friday morning. Engineers are still on the scene trying to figure out how they're going to fix it, so they can get southbound traffic moving again. The crash happened around 10:30 a.m. on the inbound side of the expressway 115th Street. The dump truck bed rose up and knocked the bridge deck out of alignment. Gravel spilled onto the pavement. Traffic was stopped in the...

Bridge Ladies Slammed for Anti-Bush Sign Richard Kim "WE DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH." Those words were handwritten on the back of a menu by the US women's bridge team and held aloft during the award ceremony at the world team championships in Shanghai last month. The team had just won the tournament, destroying Germany in the final, and were making what they thought was a small political statement. It wasn't a particularly radical message (who else didn't vote for Bush?), and it was made spontaneously, in a moment of international goodwill and humor. As today's NYT chronicles, the United...

I prank, therefore I am Engineering students have pulled some amazing pranks over the years. But UBC's Golden Gate prank may have been the greatest everBy ERIN MILLAR -- Maclean'sAt about 3:40 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2001, a moving van stopped abruptly in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. Although it was still dark, witnesses said they saw around a dozen figures emerge and push a large object over the side of the bridge. They then reboarded the van, and sped away into the night. Nothing to see here. Move along. A couple of hours later, as the morning...

November 14, 2007 Anti-Bush Sign Has Bridge World in an Uproar By STEPHANIE STROM In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest. At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was...

The Minnesota Department of Transportation emergency response executive who failed to return to the state for 10 days after the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed was fired Friday for taking unauthorized trips, making excessive personal calls on her MnDOT cell phone and bringing embarrassment to the state.Staying away from crisis Kevin Hanretta, who was at a conference with Pitt when the bridge collapsed, told MnDOT's investigator that Pitt was torn between staying on the East Coast and returning to Minnesota. Hanretta told the investigator that Pitt decided to stay put because her staff was "doing a great job" and she was...