I-35W Bridge in Mpls Collapsed!!

[The Doctor]

The entire I-35 bridge over the Mississippi has collapsed during rush hour.

Any forum members in the Twin Cities metro, please check in! Let us know you're safe!

Live coverage here.

[Manglin' Maggi Maloney]

oh my god! how terrifying! i hope everyone is alright!

[The Doctor]

Fast facts for those not acquainted with this area:

• The eight-lane, 1950-ft-long interstate bridge maintained by the Minnesota Department of Transportation

• High volume of traffic on the bridge — year 2000 Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is approximately 139,000 vehicles.

• The bridge, built in 1967, had both north and southbound lanes inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2006.

• This Interstate Highway bridge has 64 feet vertical clearance at pool stage.

They're saying that at this time, it does not appear to be a terrorist attack. The easy explanation is 15 years of non-funding for highway projects thanks to legislative pissing matches and pork barrel projects.

In any case, this is a human and economic disaster, and a senseless tragedy.

[Red Bess]

Red Bess and Sea Rover present and accounted for, Jack. Luckily, neither of us cross that bridge on a daily basis.

Folks, this is genuine tragedy here in Minneapolis -- this was a major freeway packed with rush hour traffic when it collapsed into the Mississippi. Please say a prayer for the folks involved.

[Matusalem]

Good grief! ( in the words of Minnesotan Charles Shultz' cartoon character Charlie Brown). I would only imagin Garrison Keillor must be aside himself.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Gracious.. will say a prayer for all and those in rescue as well. Keep us posted.

[The Doctor]

Current reports have 7 to 9 dead, 60 injured, and at least 50 vehicles still in the water.

Here is a graphic that helps explain what happened: I-35W Bridge Collapse

Glad to hear you're OK, Bess & Sea Rover!

[captjacksparrowsavvvy]

How sad...my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims. May God give you strength to get through the weeks ahead.

How many tragedies will happen before state and federal funding will be granted to the DOT to repair and maintain bridges. How much of tax payers money is spent yearly on maintenance and inspections?

Most of us have to cross a bridge to get to or from work, home, school or recreation. And how many of us even think about the safety of the bridge before we drive over. We just drive. We have places to get to and I never think"Oh gee, I wonder when the last inspection was"

with the DOT and NOTHING WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED...just weeks of redtape, arguing and passing the blame on to the next person. Sorry to rant but this is a senseless tragedy that could have been prevented...

[The Doctor]

Apparently there are some 80,000 bridges across the country in similar or worse shape than the 35W bridge, according to the DOT.

[Red-Handed Jill]

This is so senseless. I had no idea that the entire bridge had collapsed! I'm not sure how it is in other states, but in California, we've got lots of CalTrans guys sitting around and taking FOREVER to do jobs when they should be... I don't know - working?...

[Misson]

Apparently there are some 80,000 bridges across the country in similar or worse shape than the 35W bridge, according to the DOT. 

And yet they haven't collapsed. Isn't that curious? There are probably at least another 80,000 (or more) in better shape.

This is certainly a tragedy for the seven dead and dozens wounded and their families, but stepping outside of their personal trauma... Isn't this sort of like the sudden public uproar and agonizing about air travel as a whole when one plane crashes (of the thousands that take off daily)? It's actually a pretty good record when you look at the percentages. Risk is inherent in life. Certainly measures should be taken, but overzealous slightly irrational prosecution of the government is only going to lead to unnecessary expenditures.

[The Doctor]

As I stated before, there has been 15 years of non-funding of road projects in this state due to legislative tomfoolery and bureaucratic stupidity. It's all well documented, and has been complained about in the media for years. Unfortunately, it has come to this. Perhaps now they will wake up.

Those are the facts fueling my disgust with this event. "Overzealous"? "Slightly irrational"? That's just insulting.

[Misson]

Well, I don't mean it to be directed at you, Jack (although I guess it does sound that way. Apologies.)

However, there is a tendency in this country to get up in arms about the crisis du-jour and then throw more money at it until the next crises arises. What people forget is that this is your money. We tend to divorce ourselves from the idea that all the money the gov has either comes directly from us or is taken from the economy which is ultimately created by us.

As for mismanagement...allowing any state money earmarked for roads to be sent to the national government who then (after spending money on the needlessly bureaucratic process of...processing it) doles it back out is the first problem. They've added a level of expenditure that doesn't need to be there so they can "encourage" states to follow various national road guidelines. An insidious override of state's rights.

[Rumba Rue]

I was truly worried Mad Jack that you might have been on that bridge. Glad to know you weren't near it.

I swear it looks like an earthquake did it! It actually made me wonder if there had been a quake there, but I guess not.

Similar happened up in the Oakland/San Francisco area a couple of years back.

[LadyBarbossa]

I'm just glad that Mad Jack, Red Bess, Sea Rover and others here on the Pub are well and were not there at the time.

As to the tragedy... it's astonishing. But, never fails to humble me as a human being of the many, many faults in this world.

~Lady B

[Silkie McDonough]

Let me first say that I am thrilled that there have been no reports of our numbers being injured in this tragedy. Next, I am also happy to say that my other friends in MN have all reported back and are well.

Now my two cents.

I'm originally from Pittsburgh. it is a city only because of it's bridges that connect one borough to the next. There is an engineers conference there every year because of sheer volume of bridges and the varied designs there. The most recent report of a bridge collapse there was when closed bridge fell on the traffic below (2005). I now live in the Philadelphia area, in New Jersey. There are far fewer bridges here but the bridges are MUCH larger. I worry more about the bridges and overpasses in this area than I ever did in Pittsburgh when I think about the tragedy in MN.

As to the funding and the fact that "Bush failed to support a robust investment in surface transportation," (the president insisted on only $US2 billion a year for bridge reconstruction when lawmakers were pushing for $US3 billion a year.)" http://www.stuff.co.nz/4151786a12.html. Think about it, even when you are selling something at a yard sale you ask for more than you want on an item so that yo get what you want, I suspect that even the president knows this. He listened to his advisor's on the matter and made a counter offer. This tragedy is not the fault of one person or one bureaucracy or one organization it is a breakdown of many things including the maintenance of the infrastructure in this country.

"We should look at this tragedy that occurred as a wake-up call for us," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. "We have all over the country a crumbling infrastructure; highways, bridges and dams. We really need to take a hard look at this."

Bottom line, where's the funding to come from? Should we make more bridges pay bridges so they pay for themselves? Should we pay higher taxes? I know, we as a country are spending lots on a war that many citizens do not agree with but that decision is made and we can only hope that our soldiers will be home soon. That aside, find the solution that you think best and tell a legislator about your concerns. Support that cause. Most of us sit back and watch the government run. We complain when something is wrong but we do nothing to bring about change when it is needed. Human nature I suppose.

Okay, maybe that was more like $.25 cents. I'll stop my rambling.

[The Doctor]

And once again, old problems get laid at the feet of the current administration.

The 35W bridge was declared "structurally insufficient" in 1990. Reid can thump his chest and bray like the jackass that he is and blame Bush for everything (while he himself does nothing but point his finger, mind you). A present-day appropriation of $200 billion wouldn't have stopped this from happening.

This is not the time to find blame. Yes, someone will take the fall for this, but they'll be nothing but a scapegoat. We need to take care of the victims and their families, and prevent something like this from ever happening again.

Legislators do a lot of talking about reforming things for the better, but never actually do anything. All told, only 2% of politicians really understand what public service means. There's the deeper tragedy.

[Silkie McDonough]

Aye jack, all too true.

[Red Bess]

Similar happened up in the Oakland/San Francisco area a couple of years back.

When I saw the pictures, that's the first thing I thought of -- the '88 quake during the World Series. I remember seeing pictures of that freeway that shook apart. It looks very similar.

We are getting reports here that the death toll may be far less than first feared -- that would be a miracle! Any loss of life is tragic, but it could have been far worse.

Fortunately, I have no direct connection to anyone who was killed or injured. My cousin Bob was on a city bus headed for home, stuck in traffic on I-35, very close to the bridge when it went down. So far that's the only "close call" in my circle of family and friends. One guy who usually drives that way home from my office had been taking a different route the last week because of the construction.

I don't like bridges much anyway (I have a terrible fear of heights) but I don't think this will make much difference in the way I travel. If you want to cross the river, you gotta take the bridge. The ferries don't run anymore.

[Lady Alyx]

Red Bess,

That is what I thought of as well. I still remember hearing of the news on the way home from shopping and turned on the news to see that. Whomever is at fault for not watching our infrastructure is irrevelant now. What needs to happen even after Katrina everything in our country needs to be looked at. Not just bridges, but think of highway overpasses as well. It's terrible that so many bridges are catogorized as marginal. Why do we always wait, being pro-active is always the best management. Re-emphasis on our country needs to happen soon. We will soon be a nation of a big mess if we don't start cleaning up our act. One reporter said the terrorists are just sitting back watching all of this. I don't know if I am crazy or something, I was home all day yesterday and was watching this coverage all day, at one point the news was re-broadcasting a surveilence camera's footage of the collapse, and it looked as a small red flash was under the bridge. A terrorist could place some plastics on a rusted part of a bridge and poof the whole thing could come down. I think they need to put camera's everywhere like that from now on.

I feel for the family's for losses and injuries, how terrible. And bravo for the people on the banks and survivors for helping immediately. They were the first responders before the first responders came which also did a good job people said.

I don't know why it's taking so long for the underwater recovery. I heard so many reasons. I don't know why they did not bring more cranes to the area yet.

Mission,

I think a new post about "Escaping from a car underwater" would be a good post. I heard them explain things yesterday on the news that the guys from Mythbusters said WOULD NOT WORK, and they had a show that tested it all out. One guy said to let the car float...they don't they fill up. A lot of bad information was out on the airwaves about that yesterday. I still have to go get that punch.

[Misson]

Mission,

I think a new post about "Escaping from a car underwater" would be a good post. I heard them explain things yesterday on the news that the guys from Mythbusters said WOULD NOT WORK, and they had a show that tested it all out. One guy said to let the car float...they don't they fill up. A lot of bad information was out on the airwaves about that yesterday. I still have to go get that punch.

Sounds good to me. Unfortunately the only thing I know about sinking cars is that the old VW Bugs aren't supposed to sink immediately because the majority of the body is made in one piece. (I also heard that they used to dip the cars in giant vats of paint, but that sounds like a rumor.)

[The Doctor]

Mission, the original intent of this thread was for the Minnesotans on this board to check in and let us know they are OK. I did not want this hijacked into a government-bashing, crackpot conspiracy theory, "find somebody to blame" free-for-all.

[Silkie McDonough]

Sorry Jack. Are all accounted for?

[Lady Alyx]

crackpot conspiracy theory

gee excuse me!

[The Doctor]

*CENSORED*