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.......
Couldn’t find a more recent pdf. only the regular stuff.
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/roadwork/bynum50.html#35w
I don’t think there was any major construction going on the Hennepin bridge. I usually use the 3rd Ave bridge and I heard on the radio that they were closing off that bridge due to onlookers, so thats probably the case with both, but not totally sure.
I am NOT an expert. I’m here to learn. Thanks.
Except there are no pilings in the water. Someone ought to have whispered that in his ear.
“What they (Fox) do know is how to get a breaking news story on the air as they did while CNN and MSNBC fiddled for some time at the beginning. Anyone who rags on them as much as you must not recall the barren conservative wasteland before they came along.”
Worth repeating!
If 90F temperatures could bring down bridges, us folks in Texas and Arizona would have to depend on ferries.
none?
Yes, it is. My hunch is that this was due to structural wear and tear, just like they’re saying. But for crying out loud, can we get the investigation started before issuing the final report? I have no confidence that there will be an investigation with any integrity. Officials have already decided what outcome to report. Now they’re going to waste taxpayer money on an “investigation” so they can report what they want us to believe.
Rescue Operations suspended....bridge is moving
One of the most spectacular structural disasters in US hitory, but fortunately, so far very light in actual deaths
1 . WTC collapse - 2595 deaths
2. 1938 St Francis dam collapse - more than 500 deaths
3. Kansas City hyatt bridge collapse - 114 deaths
4. The Ashtabula Creek Bridge wreck 1876 - 100 deaths
5. 1998 San Francisco Loma Prieta - I-880 Viaduct collapse 40 deaths
Here is some general info on I-35 from Wikipedia.
They have moved fast and referenced the collapse on the I-35, and I-35W - Minnesota pages. They also now have a page on the collapse itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_35
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_35W_%28Minnesota%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Bridge
Wikipedia is not a great site for controversial stuff, but it is a great road geek site for info like this. There Interstate Highway and US Highway pages are superb.
Bash of Michael Moore on FNC just in regards to the first responders and the emergency medical treatments on site and in the local hospitals...wow....
Our Father, which art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
in earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil.
[For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.] Amen.
Oh no!
None. It spanned the whole river... there’s pictures up thread.
What? really??? Where did you hear that?
ping
Thanks for the info. There are a lot of onlookers there, not to mention Dome traffic.
Glad you’re okay. I’m sure sleeping won’t be easy tonight. Take care and God bless.
that was Dr Biden! I laughed too
Ok, you have a bridge pillar holding up a bridge in the water. If you’re lucky you can get thebase of the pillar or drive pilings down to bedrock. In many case it’s simply too deep and it’s just river muck or sand a long way dowm. So the you have to support base of the pillar with a ton of pillings driven deep and angled, etc. They usually try to then pile “rip rap” (boulders) around the bases of tbe brige pillars underwater.
Bridge supports constrict water flow - especially in floods. You get water just screaming through at high velocity. It will erode away the sand or muck around the base of the bride pillar, undercut it, esp. if you don’t keep checking with divers and adding more boulders and stuff. Eventually, so much sand and mud gets scoured out the pillar is unstable and collapses.
Not saying it happened here but it’s one of a variety of ways a brige can spontaneously collapse.
We are stuck in a TV drama loop. We expect everything to resolve itself within a hour. It may be quite a while before we know what caused the bridge to collapse. Anything at this point is simply speculation without much foundation.
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