Posted on 08/01/2007 4:28:27 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
Just turned on the news. 35W bridge collapsed in the Mississippi River. Cars, trucks, semis.....
Fires burning, tanker trucks, at least one school bus, more than ten cars......
Just now breaking.......
Almost all of them. Bridges often have to use a balancing effect or cantilever or other some such engineering device, such that the thing has to stand as a whole. Look at suspension bridges for example. They can't fail just a little bit.
There could be other cams on buildings, etc. that might have some view of the bridge. At this point, anything that could be seen would be helpful.
The FBI is there. They arrived about the same time the first energency vehicles did.
They don't. That's why they did not say it wasn't, and they did not say it was. They said "at this time it doesn't appear to be so." On what basis might they say as much (or as little)? I can think of at least three very likely reasons: 1.) The bridge is old. 2.) There has been ongoing construction in the area with stress placed on the bridge in unusual places, and 3.) A singular Minneapolis bridge is not exactly a spectacular, let alone strategic, target.
I'm really too tired right now to break out the calculator, but to get a traffic flow of 100,000 vehicles per day, I'd think on the top of my head, that such a light flow on such a long bridge....somebody's numbers are out of whack.
In Los Angeles, 50 cars over such a long span would be an invitation to hold an impromptu drag race.
Fox construction expert says that structure was riveted, and the asymmetrical load (traffic only on one side) may have contributed to the collapse.
Channel 5 is reporting that three people were rescued from the river in a hovercraft.
Don’t have many more details other than that. They were running the story on a crawl at the botom of the screen.
God help me-haven't posted in ages and sign in to say ROTFLMAO!!!!
Back to topic, I am amazed there is but one (so far) fatality.
Gut feelings.
Sleep tight.
They just showed some old footage of water rescues
its dark there now right?
That is a problem with a lot of our old infrastructure. Designed 30=40 years ago for much less traffic. That is what happened to the Sivler Bridge. Built in the 30s for Model Ts and other occasional vehicles. The night it fell, it was loaded down with cars and trucks, Christmas shoppers returning home and rush hour traffic.
The Tappan Zee is a scary bridge.
Somebody needs to tell Hannity that the pictures he is watching are from 2 hours ago.
Ack! You must have nerves of steel.
Odds are they are all fine...but prayers going up anyway.
Sometimes DOTs will put coat over coat over coat, and I can imagine the rust in a crack being “touched up” with even more paint by someone making decisions way above his payscale.
Thanks Ern.
I don’t know if that is an accurate number or not.
I saw that and quoted it just in case the numbers
might be meaningful.
Chertoff is such a colossal jerk. The guy has NO CLUE what happened, yet he has such a low opinion of the American public that he feels he must come out with his kneejerk statement about how it isn't terrorism-related. The guy thinks we're all going to go on a Muslim-killing rampage if we aren't immediately calmed down. I can't stand the bum.
Yeah, you’re right. Just kinda sad I guess. We never know when or how.
Thanks for answering my questions.
Ok, I’ve got a year-long project deadline coming up in 27 1/2 hours, so back to work!
Will continue praying for these people and their loved ones.
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