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PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
MINNEAPOLIS - An interstate bridge suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River during bumper-to-bumper traffic Wednesday, killing at least six people and sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.
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The Interstate 35W bridge, a major link between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was in the midst of being repaired when it collapsed.
"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."
Jamie Winegar of Houston said she was sitting in traffic when all of a sudden she started hearing "boom, boom, boom and we were just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping."
The car she was riding in landed on top of a smaller car but did not fall into the water. She said her nephew yelled, "'It's an earthquake!' and then we realized the bridge was collapsing."
Mayor R.T. Rybak said at least six people were killed. There were no immediate reports on the total number of injured, but Dr. Joseph Clinton, emergency medical chief at Hennepin County Medical Center, said the hospital treated 28 injured people — including six who were in critical condition.
Other hospitals also were treating the injured. Clinton said at least one of the victims had drowned.
The arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rises about 64 feet above the river. An estimated 50 vehicles plunged into the water and onto the land below, the Star-Tribune reported.
A burning truck and a school bus clung to one slanted slab. The bus had just crossed the bridge before it crumpled into pieces, and broadcast reports indicated the children on the bus exited out the back door.
Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in suburban Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.
"She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,'" Swift said.
She said a police officer told her all the kids got off the bus safely.
Dozens of vehicles were scattered and stacked on top of each other amid the rubble. Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water.
Melissa Hughes, 32, of Minneapolis said she was driving home across the bridge when she went down when the western edge in the collapse.
"You know that free fall feeling? I felt that twice," said Hughes, who was not injured.
A pickup ended up on top of her car, partially crushing the top and back end.
"I had no idea there was a vehicle on my car," she said. "It's really very surreal."
Many motorist could have been headed to the Minnesota Twins game scheduled not far from the bridge, but the game was postponed, team president Dave St. Peter said.
Ramon Houge told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he was on his way home from work on the bridge when he heard a rumbling noise, saw the ground collapse and cars go down.
Traffic was bumper to bumper and hundreds of people would have been involved, he said. He said cars backed up as best they could and he parked in a construction zone and was finally able to turn around and drive off the bridge. "It didn't seem like it was real," he said.
Local television stations captured video of injured people being carried up the riverbank. There was no official word on injuries, but dozens of rescue vehicles were there. Divers were also in the water.
Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge's surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the interstate, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on its Web site.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke also said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related.
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Terrible tragedy. My prayers go out to all the families and friends of those involved.
-------------------- All post are my opinion. Do your own DD. Who's clicking your buy/sell button!? Posts: 7800 | From: Virginia | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I used to be involved in studies of bridge maintenance. There are tens of thousands of bridges across the country, small to huge, both modern and not, that fail to get routine maintenance and even inspection.
Bridge failure is not uncommon and usually it isn't a matter of design flaw or inadequate construction, but failure due to lack of proper maintenance, as often as not, because no one bothered to look to see that repainting was needed or realized the bolts need to be re-torqued periodically or abutments and footings can become undermined by water.
I recall years back driving across a bridge in western most Tennessee and a couple or three hours later down the road hearing on the car's radio that it had collapsed. As I drove across, I had remarked that I had seen it on a list of bridges that didn't get proper inspection and could be in danger of failing. (That announcement from the radio put a hush on conversation for the remained of our trip.) It wasn't as big a bridge or on so large a highway as this one on I35, but several people were killed as their cars dropped into the river below.
A bridge, though it looks solid and modern, can be just barely sound at times. Some witness reports are saying that the highway surface crews were working with a jack hammer when the bridge fell. I wonder what happened to those workmen?
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Theyre saying all but one are acounted for. I wonder if the vibrations from the jack-hammer could have caused?
"Every substance has a resonant frequency which is demonstrated by the principle of sympathetic vibration&endash;the most obvious example is the wine glass shattered by an opera singer (or a tape recording for you couch potatoes.) If this frequency is matched and amplified, any material may be literally shaken to pieces."
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Glad the wife and I chose light-rail to get to the ball game last night.
Had a friend at the game watch it happen in her rear view mirror!
Only thing crazier than the bridge going down to me is the fact that the death toll so far is so low. That is one of the main arteries for Minneapolis and a very long drop. Thank God two lanes were closed off for construction.
Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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this bridge was found to be structurally "deficient" in its last inspection...
this problem is nationwide...
i'm not an engineer, but (for instance) it doesn't take one to know that if you see (even a little) rust (which i do all the time) you have problems... the rust you can see is often all the way thru, even on heavy plate, like ships hulls...
Upkeep costs rise as USA's bridges age
Updated 10/20/2006 12:02 AM ETNortheastern states face a tremendous challenge in paying for the cost of rebuilding those older bridges, and with their limited resources they're trying to keep them serviceable," says Frank Moretti, director of policy and research for TRIP, a Washington D.C.-based research group that supports highway construction to relieve congestion, make travel safer and spur economic productivity.
The "real danger," Moretti says, isn't that bridges will weaken or collapse but "economic ... getting so far behind the need to make repairs that the costs become prohibitive."
The Federal Highway Administration puts the current cost of upgrading bridges at $63 billion. According to TRIP's analysis of the agency's data from 2005, 26% of U.S. bridges need major repairs or aren't designed to handle current traffic levels. Among the 11 Northeastern states, 39% of bridges fall under those descriptions.
we've known since the 90's that we are falling behind fast on bridge and road maintenance nationwide...
One big-ticket item: repairing or replacing the 51-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson north of the GW. Minor fixes would cost an estimated $500 million. A new bridge with a commuter rail line would cost about $13 billion.
"It is essential that the nation have good, safe bridges," says William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, a Washington D.C.-based trade group. "But it's equally essential we have a good highway system, a good public-transit system. ... We need to invest much more." Posted 10/19/2006 10:42 PM ET
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by The Bigfoot: Glad the wife and I chose light-rail to get to the ball game last night.
Had a friend at the game watch it happen in her rear view mirror!
Only thing crazier than the bridge going down to me is the fact that the death toll so far is so low. That is one of the main arteries for Minneapolis and a very long drop. Thank God two lanes were closed off for construction.
Rail? For safety over highways, with respect to bridge failure?
Have you forgotten the tressel failure a couple of years back that dumped a passenger train into a South Alabama swamp? That's only one example, but one that got LOTS of media attention.
It isn't only highway bridges that get left out of concern, in fact, the problem is even worse with rail bridges.
This problem has been known since the 60s and during the Clinton White House was finally granted some attention (not enough, but some), but has been completely orphaned since, with fundings diverted instead to Iraq.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Sick thing is, Seems like our whole infrastructure is dated.... I had this argument with my friends about the steam pipe that exploded in manhattan. They seem to think nobody(con ed) is responsible for an 84 year old pipe exploding. Killing 1 and maybe 2 more.
In their own words "your crazy, they would have to close down blocks and it would cost way to much money. And how do they supply these buildings with power?"
My response: "I forgot con ed was a non profit org."
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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they are moving out of the country and building new where it's cheaper...
funny how we spent half-a-trillion on a country that doesn't want it huh?
how many American jobs would half-a-trillion over five years create?
lessee? the levees broke in New Orleans cuz they weren't up to spec... and at the other end of the Mississississississippi the bridge collapsed...
our politicians get their homes built and remodeled by oil pipeline co's (Sen Stevens) while the oil is leaking all over the tundra from leaky pipes? i wonder if VECO was involved in the pipeline maintenance directly? they say they do PIPELINE INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT on their web-site http://www.veco.com/Services/PipelineIntegrity/Default.asp
and they build bridges to nowhere while the others rot?
it's time for change....
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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The funny part was when I said Bush and company should be charged with war crimes. LMAO if you could only see their faces...one of my friends was really drunk and got angry. Yes it was hysterical. Thak go he has no clue what hes talking about
I told him...if "most" other countries would have pulled the moves we did..... at this point their president/dictator/king would be on trial at this point.
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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Yes, it's time for a change, but a word FOR the politicians here.
It's hard to get votes from people that see what they think are solid bridges and hear of you voting millions to fund "inspections" of those bridges. Bridge inspection doesn't get attention because the public raises hell if money is spent.
There has been entirely too much (primarily from the republican party's mantra and religious dogma) BS about cutting taxes to have much chance of providing proper maintenance to not just our highways, but most of the nations infrastructure.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by The Bigfoot: Glad the wife and I chose light-rail to get to the ball game last night.
Had a friend at the game watch it happen in her rear view mirror!
Only thing crazier than the bridge going down to me is the fact that the death toll so far is so low. That is one of the main arteries for Minneapolis and a very long drop. Thank God two lanes were closed off for construction.
I was on my way to the game from 35W from the south when it happened, I drove over that bridge, with all my kids in the car, going to an Angels game last week. Creepy feeling.
-------------------- If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy? Posts: 2647 | From: MN | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
Police: More victims in submerged cars By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, Associated Press Writers 8 minutes ago
MINNEAPOLIS - Divers checked submerged cars in the Mississippi River Thursday for a count the victims still trapped beneath the twisted steel and concrete slabs of a collapsed bridge. As many as 30 people were reported missing as the rescue effort shifted to recovery.
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The official death count stood at four Thursday morning, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said more bodies were in the water. Hospital officials counted 79 others injured.
"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Dolan said. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene."
The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.
Under water, divers were taking down license plate numbers for authorities to track down the vehicles' owners. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take several days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge.
"The bridge is still shifting," Dolan said. "We're dealing with the Mississippi River. We're dealing with currents. We're going to have to do it slowly and safely."
He said police estimate that 20 to 30 people were unaccounted for, though he stressed that it was just an estimate.
At Hennepin County Medical Center, patients had arrived in a steady stream after the collapse, some unconscious or moaning, some barely breathing, others with serious head and back injuries, Dr. William Heegaard said.
"There was blood everywhere," he said.
Relatives who couldn't find their loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday morning for any news, hoping for the best.
"I've never wanted to see my brother so much in my life," said Kristi Foster, who went to an information center set up at a Holiday Inn looking for her brother Kirk. She hadn't had contact with her brother or his girlfriend, Krystle Webb, since the previous night.
Authorities initially said at least seven people had died, but Police Lt. Amelia Huffman lowered that number Thursday morning, saying, "The medical examiner's office only has four sets of remains." She said the initial reports were based on the best estimates authorities had.
As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed, leaving those who could escape to scramble to shore. Some survivors carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors. Fire and black smoke rose from the wreckage.
The Homeland Security Department said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related, but Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek said Thursday that the cause was still unknown.
"All indications are that it was a collapse, not an act of someone doing it," Stanek said.
The first step of the federal investigation will be to recover pieces of the bridge and reassemble them, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, to try and determine what happened, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said.
Investigators also want to review video of the collapse, and were setting up a phone number for witnesses to call with information.
"It is clearly much too early in the initial stages of this investigation to have any idea what happened," he said.
The bridge was crowded with traffic, and a train had been passing beneath the roadway at the time it fell. One car carrying a chemical, polystyrene beads, hit the water, but the fire chief said was not particularly hazardous.
As the divers worked their way around at least a dozen submerged vehicles, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced a $5 million grant to help pay for rerouting traffic patterns around the disaster site.
"We fully understand what happened and we will take every step possible to ensure something like this will not happen again," Peters said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said up to $100 million in federal funds will also be available for rebuilding and recovery.
"A bridge in America just shouldn't fall down," Klobuchar said. "That's why we have called for this investigation."
In 2005, the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement, according to a federal database. The span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability in that review, White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, however, said Thursday that there was no indication from that and other reviews that the bridge should be shut down. Peters added that "none of those ratings indicated there was any kind of danger."
This week, road crews had been working on the bridge's joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday. In 2001, the bridge had been fitted with a computerized anti-icing system that sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Web site.
Wednesday evening, 18 construction workers were on the bridge when it collapsed, said Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc., in St. Michael.
The crew was placing concrete finish on the bridge for what he called a routine resurfacing project. "It was the final item on this phase of the project. Suddenly the bridge gave way," he said.
"They said they basically rode the bridge down to the water. They were sliding into cars and cars were sliding into them," he said. One of the workers was unaccounted for, he said.
The school bus had just crossed the bridge when the entire span of Interstate 35W crumpled into the river below. The bus stayed on concrete, and the children were able to escape unharmed out the back door.
Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.
"She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,'" Swift said. All the kids got off the bus safely, but about 10 of the children were injured, officials said.
The collapsed bridge is just blocks from the heart of Minneapolis, near tourist attractions like the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night's game at the nearby Metrodome early.
Thursday's game between the Twins and Kansas City Royals was called off, but the Twins decided to go ahead with Wednesday's rather than sending about 25,000 fans back out onto the congested highways. Inside the stadium, there was a moment of silence to honor victims.
The steel-arched bridge, built in 1967, rose 64 feet above the river and stretched 1,900 feet across the water. It was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid the need for piers that might interfere with river navigation.
The river's depth at the bridge was not immediately available, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel depth of at least 9 feet in the Upper Mississippi to allow for barge traffic.
___
-------------------- "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Posts: 4005 | From: Shaolin | Registered: Oct 2005
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Yeah, it's all rumors and speculation right now. I did here about one guy who's delivery truck got hung up on the cliff (probably saved his life.) He climbed back up the cliff with a few broken ribs. He said emergency crews were quick to help but that he was disgusted with the way the media was circling the wounded looking for stories.
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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Tuesday, June 20, 2000 States Must Step Up Bridge Repair Funding, Report Says By John Nagy, Staff Writer
Incremental improvements on the nation's roadway bridges have left nearly three in ten in need of renovation or repair and states may need to pick up more of the tab, according to a new independent analysis of Federal Highway Administration data.
(TRIP), a non-profit highway research group based in Washington, D.C., which conducted the analysis of data collected through December 1999.
"None of the bridges on the [FHWA] list are in imminent danger of collapsing. We're not talking about dangerous bridges and loss of life. We're talking about ... deficient bridges that need investment by the states and federal government in order to maintain and improve them," Haaland said.
State and federal government bridge expenditures stand at about $6.1 billion annually. TRIP's conclusions, released June 7, support recent indications from the U.S. Department of Transportation that an additional $4.5 billion would be needed each year for the next 20 years to substantially reduce the number of flawed structures.
hmmm...
While one in three locally maintained bridges needs work, the percentage of outdated interstate bridges is significantly lower, about 4.1 percent, she said.
At least half of the bridges in Hawaii, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are "deficient" either structurally unsound or out-of-sync with current road construction standards according to the report.
More than a third of the bridges in fourteen more states fall into the same category. Those states are Alabama, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia.
Among states with the fewest deficient bridges were Arizona (10 percent) Delaware, Minnesota and Nevada (each at 16 percent).
and Minnesota.... sheesh...
i suppose they underestimated huh? "None of the bridges on the [FHWA] list are in imminent danger of collapsing. We're not talking about dangerous bridges and loss of life. We're talking about ... deficient bridges that need investment by the states and federal government in order to maintain and improve them," Haaland said.
how many more "accidents" are just waiting?
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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dont know of anyone involved in the collapse, however the woman i'm working for today,hasnt heard from her friend since this happened. and he uses that bridge. Doesnt look good. sad
-------------------- jordan Posts: 5812 | From: st paul,mn | Registered: Feb 2004
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'Deferred Maintenance,' Tumbledown Bridges, and Bathtubs by Meteor Blades Thu Aug 02, 2007 at 11:22:38 AM PDT
As I noted here last night, any good reporter with a few years on a city, county or state government beat will tell you that events like the tragic collapse of the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul are inevitable. Not that anybody knows for certain which bridges will fail. Only that some will.
As media reports and Diarists SanJoseLady, Phoenix Woman, Rena F, Joel Hirschhorn, karateexplosions, Bill Tchakirides, ray bob, davidkc, CarrieICL, DuvalDem, Tony Barr PA09, Misery Gore, and mmcintee in the seminal Repairs on Bridge Were Delayed are showing, the 35W bridge collapse was, as the cliché has it, an accident waiting to happen. A tragedy courtesy of politicians who, in their own ways, follow Grover Norquist's dictum of reducing government until it's small enough to drown in the bathtub. And of passing out massive tax cuts, mostly to people who need them least.
It's not just bridges. As the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card 2005 points out, we're $1.6 trillion behind in infrastructure investment. That, by the way, is the amount of tax cuts Mister Bush tried to get passed in 2001, before he had the Global War on Terrorism™ with which to shape his legacy. Congress "compromised" and gave him only $1.35 trillion, tax cuts that writer Robert Freeman once labeled a "national form of insanity."
What the ASCE's report points out is that bridges aren't our only problem:
Dams (D+) Since 1998, the number of unsafe dams has risen by 33% to more than 3,500. While federally owned dams are in good condition, and there have been modest gains in repair, the number of dams identified as unsafe is increasing at a faster rate than those being repaired. $10.1 billion is needed over the next 12 years to address all critical non-federal dams--dams which pose a direct risk to human life should they fail. ...
Drinking Water (D-) America faces a shortfall of $11 billion annually to replace aging facilities and comply with safe drinking water regulations. Federal funding for drinking water in 2005 remained level at $850 million, less than 10% of the total national requirement. The Bush administration has proposed the same level of funding for FY06. ...
Schools (D) The Federal government has not assessed the condition of America's schools since 1999, when it estimated that $127 billion was needed to bring facilities to good condition. Other sources have since reported a need as high as $268 billion. Despite public support of bond initiatives to provide funding for school facilities, without a clear understanding of the need, it is uncertain whether schools can meet increasing enrollment demands and the smaller class sizes mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act. ...
Transit (D+)Transit use increased faster than any other mode of transportation--up 21%--between 1993 and 2002. Federal investment during this period stemmed the decline in the condition of existing transit infrastructure. The reduction in federal investment in real dollars since 2001 threatens this turnaround. In 2002, total capital outlays for transit were $12.3 billion. The Federal Transit Administration estimates $14.8 billion is needed annually to maintain conditions, and $20.6 billion is needed to improve to "good" conditions. Meanwhile, many major transit properties are borrowing funds to maintain operations, even as they are significantly raising fares and cutting back service. ...
Wastewater (D-) Aging wastewater management systems discharge billions of gallons of untreated sewage into U.S. surface waters each year. The EPA estimates that the nation must invest $390 billion over the next 20 years to replace existing systems and build new ones to meet increasing demands. Yet, in 2005, Congress cut funding for wastewater management for the first time in eight years. The Bush administration has proposed a further 33% reduction, to $730 million, for FY06.
This ought to be a no-brainer.
It's understandable in impoverished Chad or Haiti or East Timor or the back-country of the People's Republic of China. But there is no excuse for lethal tumbledown infrastructure in this country. Congress gave Mister Bush $1.35 trillion in tax cuts. Congress has appropriated $600 billion (so far, with more to come) for a war that should never have happened. Congress enables the military-industrial complex to vacuum up additional hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars annually. Congress just approved $25 billion in annual farm subsidies, the vast majority of which go to rich farmers.
And on, and on. It's not just the Feds, obviously. In state after state, the bathtub drowners argue for tax cuts which ensure that this shameful deterioration of American infrastructure will continue. Every old bridge that falls down is, symbolically and actually, a testament to their vision.
Budget-minded Bush threatens to veto highway funding bill Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The, Feb 4, 2004 by JIM ABRAMS
Budget-minded Bush threatens to veto highway funding bill
By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press
Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Washington -- Trying to restrain spending, the Bush administration on Tuesday threatened to veto a huge highway funding bill that would ensure building projects for almost every member of Congress and provide a jolt of jobs to the economy.
Lawmakers from both parties said the six-year, $318 billion bill before the Senate was must-pass legislation in an election year when few major bills are expected to pass.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who urged the Senate to finish the bill by next week, said it could create up to 2 million jobs.
there's been a few that have been trying to get more money for US instead of Iraq:
State sounds alarm over road funding By Elisa Crouch ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 07/30/2007
Missouri's top transportation official is canvassing the state talking about a "perfect storm" forming over his department.
Road construction costs are spiking, debt payments are ballooning, and at the same time, fuel taxes are generating slightly less cash and the federal highway trust fund is speeding toward a multibillion-dollar deficit.
The combination means that by 2010, the Missouri Department of Transportation could have just $569 million a year to pay contractors for road and bridge work. That's down from the $1.23 billion that MoDOT is spending this year on those jobs.
"We're going to return to a position when money available for our road program will be less in 2010 than it was in 2004," Transportation Director Pete Rahn said recently in St. Louis.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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It's been the norm in all these "no tax" packages.
Ignore maintenance and only nod at construction needs.
I remember a research paper on highways I participated in years back wherein the conclusion was that every dollar "saved" by not doing highway maintenance resulted in a need for $17 per year therafter (each year), forever in replacement cost. And it snowballs......
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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At the NTSB press meeting they said they were interested in the southern portion of the bridge because the deck seems to have collapsed in one direction and the support structure below fell in the other.
Although it is just barely out of view, it looks like the southern part of the bridge collapses first in the surveillance video.
If you go to the MDOT website, you can view a live image from a traffic cam #628 * I-35 and Washington Avenue that is just a few hundred feet away from the southern portion of the collapsed bridge looking down on where the deck used to be, so I imagine this won't be the only video of the event we end up seeing.
According to several news reports, 2 lanes in both directions were closed at the time due to construction with an additional one to be closed this week.
Based on numerous pictures and video via Yahoo, AP and BBC sources, it appears that the section being worked on at the time was near the southern side close to where the collapse appears to have first started.
.....
Here is a picture from 2006 taken from approximately the same angle as the surveillance video that captured the collapse. Note the corrosion on the main support truss and the discoloration of the concrete support pillar below it...
IMO, in the end they will find it was a combination of corrosion and fatigue, coupled with construction and a heavy traffic load that brought this bridge down.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
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my experience in the Navy ( and several of my own boats) is that what you see is (like an iceberg) only a small portion...
when i moved from Ca to Ne? i had a sort of a shock when i looked at cars just 5 years old in NE.. the raod salt had corroded every bit of exposed steel or iron... from the engine to the trailer hitches....
salting the roads in winter not much choice, but you can't leave it exposed...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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not much choice, but you can't leave it exposed...
