Breaking: Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

KSTP TV 5/ME | 8/1/07 | Me

[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.......

[Dr. Eckleburg]

The bridge wasn't under construction and no work was being done under the bridge. Several lanes were being repaved.

Four of the eight lanes were closed to traffic. Thus it would seem today's traffic load was half the normal weight on the bridge.

[Kitten1]

i am stunned that they didn’t cover the press conference. do they love the sound of their voicet that much?

[fatima]

2 school buses in the water.Fox reported.

[Strategerist]

All the way over the Missisippi? Guess I forgot how narrow it was up there.

[Terriergal]

Ha ha. Very funny.

:-)

It looks different from the angles we’re seeing it at. I’m used to seeing it from the ground and I just don’t remember ever seeing that Cedar ave bridge... then again I kept thinking the 35w bridge was concrete.

[cornfedcowboy]

Are you agreeing with me or no?

[tsmith130]

The Tappan Zee is a scary bridge.

I agree!

[BurbankKarl]

They have rounded up the Swedish Grandmothers...

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Every report so far, inlcuding eye witness accounts, says the only “construction work” being done on the bridge was resurfacing.

[Kitten1]

i am NOOO fan of msnbc but they have been extrememly current on this incident. i gotta shower now-olbermann’s voice for this long makes me feel dirty.

[Don Joe]

---

Homeland Security expects a terrorist group to call them immediately after the attack, to claim responsibility and then to actually prove that responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.

---

Right. Just like they called to claim responsibility immediately after the attacks of 9/11/01 (which we were assured was pilot-error even though they'd been tracking the planes on radar -- until the second plane hit, at which point even off-the-charts morons wouldn't buy that story).

Oh, wait... They didn't call, did they.

So, I guess the actual rule is that they will always call to claim responsibility for their attacks, except in those cases in which they don't call, but the main thing is that we don't worry, keep on shopping, and watch the fantastic entertainment provided by the television industry.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Thanks for checking in.......

[jackv]

Dang!! I’m so busy trying to read this thread I hardly see anything!! Listening tho.

[Ladysmith]

My sister and I just heard about this. She’s trying to contact her son who is going to school up there - she can’t get through to him because the cells are overloaded.

[Spiff]

Fox News Channel reports that FBI has released a statement. They’re investigating, but no reason to believe this has anything to do with terrorism. Etc. Standard statement.

[fatima]

Prayers .

[BobS]

You seem to know about things. A good engineering idea came out of the '94 earthquaqe in Northridge a mile from here and 3 miles north where the 118 FWY connects to the 405. That FWY collapsed and the big re-bar pillars were cracked. The repair involved tightly encasing the new re-bar concrete pillars in 3/4" rolled sheet steel. Probably 4140 heavy steel. And doing more with the base.

Pray for a good idea to come out of this disaster from someone. Like building to earthquake standards.

[Terriergal]

right after that is 4th st though. and as I recall you have to take the University exit to get to 4th..

[Hunble]

Remember Terriergal, over $1 Billion was taken from the Minnesota highway funds (that could have been spent to upgrade bridges) to create that choo-choo train.

I hope everyone is very proud of their choo-choo train tonight!

[Qout]

Just a guess. But it is possible that when the bridge was built in the ‘60s the shoulder was not designed to carry the full load of 80,000 pound trucks bumper-to-bumper.

Now we are here 40 years later. The steel has developed some cracks and the contactor working on the repairs shoves all of the traffic onto the one lane that was never designed to carry it. The steel begins to bend under the heavy load of the evening rush hour, and the failure cascades through the rest of the bridge.

As I say, just a guess.