Breaking: Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

KSTP TV 5/ME | 8/1/07 | Me

[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.......

[spunkets]

"Looks like the center span broke loose and caused the approach on one side to rock back on its piers."

I just have a dialup and couldn't get a decent pic.

"Most (concrete, H-beam, and shell pile) hammers are diesel...(Delmag, Bucyrus Erie)"

I see. 75K ftlbs/whack.

Thanks.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

It appears the bridge collapsed in both directions. There are multiple cars in the river and a couple cars on fire. According to one witness, there was a school bus full of children on the bridge. Cars are still on the bridge.”

My God. Prayers lifted. Was this due to construction activities?

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Yep. You’re right.

[mplsconservative]

University Ave. is the first exit from northbound 35.

[ConservativeofColor]

It's the bridge that has on it.

[TBall]

Gosh I hope it is not terrorism. When I think of a bridge collapsing I think of multiple charges and that cell phone/terrorism thread a ways back.

[Weight of Glory]

see my post #1077 to get some numbers on the strength of steel componants

[Terriergal]

Ah I got it from google maps — yep... that’s the bridge that has been closed up because of construction. It’s been one lane on the Northbound side, and open on the southbound side. I got stuck in traffic on the Northbound side and it took about 20 minutes just to get across that bridge last week. I wonder if that kind of overload/unbalanced load has anything to do with it?

[Tennessee Nana]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Fox 9 tooooooooo much dead air time

show old footage or something...

[omega4179]

Plus Al queda wants to strike economic infrastructure according to the fed warnings.

[Tuxedo]

It would be more likely terrorism if they did this in St Louis or Memphis where the river is much wider and deeper, and traffic is probably heavier. This does look rather suspicious though.

[Strategerist]

Actually I don’t think bridges, like nuclear power plants, are a particularly suitable terrorist target. It’s a pretty specialized skill requiring time to accurately set explosives to physically drop a bridge.

[SomeCallMeTim]

I’m a Chemical Engineer, not a Civil...so, take this for what it costs... I heard a report that parts of the bridge were under construction.... and someone mentioned feeling vibrations being generated by a jackhammer.

My first guess would be: Harmonic vibrations generated by the jackhammer... coupled with the old age of the bridge, and the heavy loading of a full stack of autos....

Just a guess.... but, I know harmonics can do very strange things on a bridge.

[CharacterCounts]

Probably more qualified than you.

Being one of the principal detectives in a blown murder case, does not ualify Fuhrman as a terrorist expert.

[Tennessee Nana]

Who does the cute guy kill for this?

[HairOfTheDog]

The instantaneous "we have no idea of the cause, but don't worry, there is no sign of terrorism" mantra has become so predictable that people inevitably crack jokes about it.

Not me... I crack jokes about the ones who think they know enough to crack jokes.

[jackv]

Hi Nana!!!

Who was that???

[pillut48]

Not a statistician (sp?) just curious about bridge collapses lately. Bridge collapse.

Bridge collapse.

[advance_copy]

During press conference, Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis confirms six dead now.

[Terriergal]

Hard to believe a bridge could just collapse like that, but hopefully all the other bridges are safe.

Last week I was on it and they had it down to one lane on one side... I got stuck there crawling along bumper to bumper from the 1-35 interchange over that bridge until after the 4th st exit. The constant train of vehicles on that one lane plus all the construction equipment couldn't have been good for the bridge either.