You heard it here first....
This catastrophe will be pinned on........GLOBAL WARMING!
It is hot in Minneapolis today, about 90 deg, and if they find this was an expansion/buckling problem that caused the failure of the main span, then Al Gore will be all over it...
Looking at pictures of th original design it looks quite a flimsy affair. the main (Steel truss) span clears the river with no central pier, I am thinking it is the main span that failed and the other parts came down in concertina style once the balanci ng weight of the span was suddenly removed.
This catastrophe will be pinned on........GLOBAL WARMING!
And this has been the wettest and coolest summer in many many years here in normally hot TEXAS. No global warming here... as a matter of fact, we are wanting 90 degree days so our crops of cotton will start growing.