Interstate 35 Bridge falls into the Mississippi River

[Seraphblade]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/minnesota_bridge_collapse

[Ezekiel]

Yeah, they said it was being worked on yesterday. I get the feeling somebody is in deep shit. Or the state is doing too little too late? Regardless, we'll be hearing about it until X-mas. A shame though, I don't know how I'd react in a situation like that. We got a few bridges closeby that go over the Delaware River. It be quite a fall, a lot higher then that bridge. Luckily people had time to get off, and there are only 3 confirmed deaths so far. Let's hope there's no more.
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[HarmonianHiccup]

I've just been watching the report on Fox.
The thing that's terrible about this is that you know there are people still in there that they either can't get to or no-one knows where they are--the entire thing makes me sick with...I dunno how to describe the emotion.

You almost wish you could have someone to blame—someone to get angry at, no matter if that doesn't actually do anyone any good—it's not even a natural disaster that you can pin on Mother Nature. It's just an unhappy tragedy.
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Proud Owner and Operator of The Hiccup's Speciality Grassland Atelier, the only place to find Electric Whiffle Bats!

[Tullaryx]

The fact that the bridge was going through some sort of retrofit renovation would be a major clue as to what might have caused one of the road pylon to collapse under the weight of the vehicles driving over them. This is one reason why the bridges in San Francisco and the region are only worked on at night when there's little traffic.

There's bound to be a lot of calls from state and federal lawmakers to go back and check procedures on bridgework during rush hour. I wouldn't be surprised if such type of bridge work becomes less common and all of it done at night as some states have already begun to do.
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[CAPTAIN PLANET]

Kind of a big deal around these here parts, since it's only a couple hours from my home, and the Mississippi is like..right outside my home. Every news station has it on.
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ard says:
I'll yank your pigtails and call you heidi
Mirage says:
ard, save the dirty talk for when we meet!

[Elc]

This actually reminds me of the old TV movie: The Night the Bridge Fell Down. I am not making that up, it is a real movie, though I wouldn't be surprised if few people really knew of it, since it was made in the early 80s. Hell, I barely remember much about the movie, save for scenes of the bridge crumbling piece by piece, while attempts are made to rescue the people stranded upon it.

It's freaky how life can sometimes imitate art. (even if it isn't exact, it's still "close enough" for me)
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Jowy Atreides]

Well, the only aspect that's really interesting to me is the hundreds of organizations, both public and private, that show up after these types of problems occur in the US. Even the Army Corps of Engineers is involved!

[Geddoe-9]

this is terrible. were the officials aware of the brdgei problem

[Sailor Sexy]

So, I wonder how they're getting across the Mississippi river now? I ask, not because I'm heartless (although I am, that's not the reasoning here) but because if they're diverting traffic across another bridge, all that added stress is something they're going to have to examine for that bridge as well. I read up a little bit on this since I originally am from Minnesota, so it's like something happening in my old neighborhood, even though I lived a couple hours away from The Cities. Sounds to me like it was a combination of improper design for the amount of traffic that went over it, and poor maintenance. No doubt the fact that Minnesota heavily salts their roads helped contribute to an uneven deterioration on the bridge.

Sucks that some people died by drowning, lousy way to go. Times like this make me glad I'm a fairly apathetic person towards stuff like this, otherwise not being able to point a finger at any one person or persons would drive me nuts.
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~Uguu!~

[Seraphblade]

[CAPTAIN PLANET]

The bridge is only 40 years old. Not that old for a bridge. They were doing on contruction on it, but none of it was structural, really. They were filling in potholes and such.

Evidently, authorities came to inspect the bridge, to see if terrorists were at work, and they say it was purely accidental, and no one tampered with it.
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ard says:
I'll yank your pigtails and call you heidi
Mirage says:
ard, save the dirty talk for when we meet!

[Masaya]

No, the construction going on the bridge was very minor. It was just fixing potholes and whatever. Nothing that should have altered its ability to collapse.

Honestly, what happened was it was just a failed bridge. It wasn't built to last, and obviously it didn't. Nothings perfect. Its terrible what happened thought.


I live about a hour away from Minneapolis, and have taken that bridge multiple times. I have friends who commute over that bridge to work almost every day. And actually have a few friends who drove over the bridge about a hour before it collapsed. I'm soo happy they are safe.
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[Geddoe-9]

such a terriblee thing. i wonder what happened to the architech tah desinged the bridge?

[Amyral]

Bridges aren't generally designed by architects, they are designed by civil engineers who the specifications of the government. The bridge was likely designed by a civil engineering firm, but the blame for it's collapse rests on the government, who set the standards for it and who are generally lax in providing funding for it.

[CAPTAIN PLANET]

As of now, still 8 people are missing in the wreckage. such a terrible thing to happen.
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ard says:
I'll yank your pigtails and call you heidi
Mirage says:
ard, save the dirty talk for when we meet!