Bridge collapse in Minneapolis

[Bonochick]

I can't even fathom experiencing that. It seems unreal. So horrific.

 

[Butterscotch]

I'm going to throw up. I've been shaking all night. I do not drive on this bridge daily but I know several people who do. I was at school all night so unable to watch any of the news. I heard about this around 6:30 when I walked in the school. One of my friends was sitting at the table in the kitchen in tears. She drives over the bridge everyday. She stopped by her boyfriends house on the way to school so she took a different way. Otherwise she could have been on the bridge. A few others at school had similar stories about how they could have been there. One of the Chefs was so upset that he put on msnbc for the students to watch on the big screen while they were cooking. He wouldn't say if he knew anyone but I could tell he was pretty shaken up by it all. Another Chef crossed the bridge at 6:00 pm tonight on his way to school.

I'm actually just getting home now from school (after midnight) so I haven't been able to see the news or pictures until now. I can't believe that entire bridge fell into the river. I've been on it a million times. I probably would have been on it this weekend. It's shocking. Nine people dead. Dozens missing. We all checked our phones all night to make sure everyone we knew was ok....

I feel for you. It must be so much worse because you live there, seeing it every day, having been over it, and knowing it just gave out. I'd be afraid to cross any bridge for awhile. It must be very traumatizing for the survivors.

 

[ntalwar]

Hopefully this is an isolated incident. They mentioned a study on the news that states a high percentage of bridges nationwide are considered "obsolete".

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Glad to hear no one here was directly affected by this tragedy.

I can only imagine how horrific something like this was to have gone through. I'm driving over the Ambassador Bridge tomorrow - maybe I'll take the tunnel.

Thoughts are with everyone during this time.

 

[joyfulgirl]

It's horrific. These images have re-ignited a childhood fear of bridges. Crossing the Chesapeake Bay bridge on family trips as a kid used to give me anxiety attacks.

to anyone affected by this

 

[JCOSTER]

Glad to hear no one here was directly affected by this tragedy.

I can only imagine how horrific something like this was to have gone through. I'm driving over the Ambassador Bridge tomorrow - maybe I'll take the tunnel.

Thoughts are with everyone during this time.

Thank God. ray:

 

[phillyfan26]

The 20-30 missing is the scary stat.

 

[U2isthebest]

Glad to hear no one here was directly affected by this tragedy.

I can only imagine how horrific something like this was to have gone through. I'm driving over the Ambassador Bridge tomorrow - maybe I'll take the tunnel.

Thoughts are with everyone during this time.

I hate the Ambassador Bridge. The damn thing looks like it could fall apart at any second. I refuse to drive on it or be in a car driven on it.

 

[Snowlock]

It's the stories that aren't in the national media yet that are really terrible. There's cars still in the river under water and under the rubble that they haven't been able to get to. But as of last night, they were talking to some of the victims trapped there..

Cries for help in the wreckage; investigators describe difficulties of rescue efforts
BY EMILY GURNON
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 08/02/2007 01:46:54 PM CDT


People pinned and dying in the wreckage of the Interstate 35W bridge Wednesday night asked rescue workers to say their goodbyes to their families, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said.

More details are emerging about the frantic minutes and hours after the collapse of the bridge that spanned the Mississippi River and the harrowing choices rescue workers had to make.

"There's people pinned, severely injured. We couldn't move them. It was an obviously dangerous situation with stuff still falling." Dolan said. "The decision was made to leave them."

"People who were pinned or partly crushed told emergency workers to say 'hello' or say 'goodbye' to their loved ones," he said.

Dolan said recovery of wreckage and bodies continues today.

However, as of about 5 minutes ago the recovery was suspended and no one knows why at this point.

 

[BostonAnne]

It's the stories that aren't in the national media yet that are really terrible. There's cars still in the river under water and under the rubble that they haven't been able to get to. But as of last night, they were talking to some of the victims trapped there..




However, as of about 5 minutes ago the recovery was suspended and no one knows why at this point.

How heartwrenching....

 

[arw]

It's the stories that aren't in the national media yet that are really terrible. There's cars still in the river under water and under the rubble that they haven't been able to get to. But as of last night, they were talking to some of the victims trapped there..




However, as of about 5 minutes ago the recovery was suspended and no one knows why at this point.

per the scroll bar on Kare11 news right now, the river current and the debris is too dangerous for divers right now.

 

[Snowlock]

Here it is live... It's just, surreal. It's funny how you watch something like this and it seems fake, like it's a b-movie or something.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_6525657

 

[Snowlock]

per the scroll bar on Kare11 news right now, the river current and the debris is too dangerous for divers right now.

Yeah just saw that. PioPress was weird, in the same article it said it was suspending recovery and at the same time inspecting all other bridges of the same type built during the same time. The piece made it seem like the two things were connected; which was creepy.

 

[Lila64]

Here it is live... It's just, surreal. It's funny how you watch something like this and it seems fake, like it's a b-movie or something.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_6525657

HOLY CRAP!

This is the first time I've actually seen a visual, as I haven't watched the news in a while, and just heard/read reports.

ray:

 

[Butterscotch]

Hopefully this is an isolated incident. They mentioned a study on the news that states a high percentage of bridges nationwide are considered "obsolete".

I am afraid it won't be. Our entire interstate system is now 50 or pushing it and stuff is starting to fall apart. I see some all over that look like they're ready to go at any minute. There's no money to fix it all because of Iraq and nobody seems to care until something like this actually happens. I read a news story that said the bridge was determined to have 'metal fatigue' in 2001 by the Minnesota Transportation Dept, and the US inspectors labeled it 'severely structurally unsound' in 2005. Yet they put people on it every day and hope nothing happens.

The reason it finally fell was probably because of the construction and cars sitting still on it for so long caused a high concentration of weight problem. Maybe if they kept moving it wouldn't have happen, but the one that collapsed in Arkansas a few years back happened while the cars were moving, so you never know. I also think the extra cold MN winters and the freezing and contracting of the metal in the water may have been a factor in this one going before others, but others will surely follow

 

[AtomicBono]

Man...that is so fucked up. I've been on that bridge before. And I've got family there...luckily they're alright.

My thoughts are with all you Minnesotans

 

[dazzledbylight]

I hope everyone everybody knows is okay and people on this forum who live there I know there are a few.

i felt sad as soon as I heard about it [later in eve when iI flipped onn the TV], but knowing of people who live/lived in the area........makes it sadder
been praying since last night for everyone

This is devastating And this morning a greyhound bus turned over in NC. It's not safe to travel anymore. You never know when you're going to be riding along, and plop..... Our 50 year old infrastructure is crumbling and we haven't got enough money to fix it thanks to Iraq

you are partly spot on, butter scotch....
......only it's worse than that!

1] we've had Big Tax Cuts during THIS war something UNTIL now has never happened in this country.

2] when the slogan is .....
"government IS the problem..........." by people IN the governemnt.....who have taken over [at the time] the governement from people who have said..."governemnt CAN help...."
...then you start to defund/ cut staff or outright get rid of gov't agncies that monitor these things.

THEN this IS what happens...it doesn't happen out of THIN AIR! .........

Your FOOD Safety goes down....spinich anyone?

Your infrastucture is NOT monitored correctly OR even IF it is.....
.....the rating/the standards that you apply as to when a piece of infrastructure Bridges//Roads/Tunnels......should have repairs/updateing is lowered so begins TAKES LONGER things. check & repair

THIS bridge IS an example of t hat....
it had a current rating of 50% !
DO you [who are reading this] consider THAT safe?!

3] Insult to injury.... our trucks and vehicles haven gotten heavier in many cases- the infra structure most being built in 2 big swatches- the 30's & 50/60's...... THUS speeding up the process of metal fatigue, stresses on concrete etc.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I for all the greiving, the winesses, the rescue & recovery teams, the people at the hospitals -injured and their fam & friends/ the staffs, AND for those still waiting in anguish for them to continue to get the cars etc out of the river.
++++++++++++++++++++++

i have to leave from where i am...
...not enough time to read all the posts and not enoough time to check for spelling/grammer. apologies.

 

[Butterscotch]

Thank you Dazzled for all that info. We need to know about this stuff and talk about it, for all the good it will do

 

[Zoots]

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people affected by this incident! Scary stuff which sadly we don't have any control over! You'd think structural and civil engineers would be working on ensuring the quality of all these bridges!

 

[zonelistener]

The 20-30 missing is the scary stat.

Thankfully, they have just downgraded the missing count down to eight. They also identified the four dead...all residents of the Twin Cities area.

I feel so far from what I consider "home" right now. I spoke to one of my friends early this morning to check on all of my friends out there. Luckily, everyone is safe.

 

[2861U2]

There's no money to fix it all because of Iraq

Ahh, I was waiting for someone to somehow blame this on President Bush. Pretty powerful guy if he can cause this, Katrina, the Asian tsunami and September 11th.

Personally, I'm holding out to see Al Gore blame this on global warming and Al Sharpton blame it on the white engineers who designed it.

 

[ntalwar]

Ahh, I was waiting for someone to somehow blame this on President Bush. Pretty powerful guy if he can cause this, Katrina, the Asian tsunami and September 11th.

One can't deny, however, that a dollar spent in Iraq or on servicing Bush's federal debt is a dollar that can't be spent domestically.

 

[JCOSTER]

There was also a school bus of children going somewhere from camp. Thank God they were all safe and were helped by people that were able to get out of their cars and get them to safety!

 

[Snowlock]

One can't deny, however, that a dollar spent in Iraq or on servicing Bush's federal debt is a dollar that can't be spent domestically.

And thus the reactionaryism begins.

That bridge has been "structurally deficient" (whatever that means) for 17 years. I don't think W was president for that entire time.

Lets just not cheapen this by going there.

 

[phillyfan26]

Ahh, I was waiting for someone to somehow blame this on President Bush. Pretty powerful guy if he can cause this, Katrina, the Asian tsunami and September 11th.

Personally, I'm holding out to see Al Gore blame this on global warming and Al Sharpton blame it on the white engineers who designed it.

That doesn't address the issue, though...

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

One can't deny, however, that a dollar spent in Iraq or on servicing Bush's federal debt is a dollar that can't be spent domestically.

Exactly. I heard about bridges in Iraq that have been rebuilt and bombed and then rebuilt again but yet where is the money for our infrastructure here at home?

Too much money going towards a lost war and not enough being spent here at home where it is needed the most. What a joke.

 

[Snowlock]

Exactly. I heard about bridges in Iraq that have been rebuilt and bombed and then rebuilt again but yet where is the money for our infrastructure here at home?

Too much money going towards a lost war and not enough being spent here at home where it is needed the most. What a joke.

No, the joke is that your statement implies that someone with budgetary control has actually said "Dang, if it weren't for that damn war, we'd have enough money to repair them bridges."

68 billion to do them all in a what, 3 trillion dollar budget? We can afford both if we wanted to.

Lets just not go crazy on this huh?

 

[phillyfan26]

Actually, we're in tremendous debt. Which means we cut back on things we need, and continue to spend on what we don't. That's politics, baby.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Actually, we're in tremendous debt. Which means we cut back on things we need, and continue to spend on what we don't. That's politics, baby.

Thank you.

Snowlock, the idea that we can afford both is so 2003.

 

[Snowlock]

Actually, we're in tremendous debt. Which means we cut back on things we need, and continue to spend on what we don't. That's politics, baby.

No what's politics is trying to turn every single bad frickin' thing that happens in the world onto one person because you have a personal problem against with him.

As some of you may or may not know, that bridge was slated to be repaired or replaced. You can just go tearing them down whenever because then no one can go anywhere. You also in the state of MN can only work on infrastructure about 5 months out of the year which means things get scheduled far out.

Also, the state is the primary organization that schedules construction, not the federal government.
So figure out what you're talking about before you start talking for a change.