There’s a lot more than 6 bodies. The media is just very circumspect about reporting them until they’re “confirmed.” That body count is going to grow. I think it still might not end up being as bad as I would have thought. That bridge was almost gridlocked when I went over it.
It’s normally an 8 lane bridge (4 lanes each way), but due to construction was restricted down to 2 lanes each way.
It was further restricted down to one lane each way last night and was supposed to be that way later tonight.
When the news first broke the talking heads were saying that luckily it was after rush hour. Now they’re saying it was in the middle of rush hour. The only time I’ve been on it and it has NOT been busy was like a 2am weeknight.
The eeriest pic I’ve seen so far was on CCO - twisted steel, concrete, smashed SUV - and 5 geese swimming by quietly.
The fact that so many people have survived is amazing.
I guess that Bush will realize this happened in 2 days, drop in for a photo op, then fly home.
Is that really necessary? People are dead, it’s breaking news, and you can’t leave your partisan politics out of it? :rolleyes:
I can’t imagine that the temperature extremes we’re subjected to in this state could have been good for that bridge. 91 degrees here today. Six months from now it will be 15 below zero. That’s a lot of expanding and contracting for that asphalt.
Mothman, why didn’t you warn us?
Let’s keep politics out of this thread, please, Harmonious Discord. There are plenty of other threads in the Pit you can use to take a snipe at Bush (or other political figures that don’t have anything to do with this tragedy).
ETA: Same goes to Dio, too, in post #70.
My oldest son lives by the Dome and crossed that bridge everyday this summer working on a research project at the U.
But due to my youngest son being in the hospital the past two weeks, he took a break to be with his brother.
Now we’re sitting in a hospital room watching these events, it’s surreal.
I imagine the investigation will be a sight to behold. We had an overpass collapse last year on a major highway in Laval, killing five people. They’ve had an extensive investigation into the failure, chaired by a former premier, and numerous similar bridges in Quebec have either been demolished, closed, or closed to truck traffic. They’re even going to demolish this enormous interchange near where I live (a good thing in itself).
My heart goes out to the people of Minneapolis. 
Fine and done.
Sorry if you got offended. No need to reply back.
Some times you put your foot in mouth not intending to.
The footage I’ve seen on BBC Television looks like something straight out of Die Hard.
I thought the same thing.
What does the fact that it’s 2007 make any difference? Failures happen. Any human-built thing can and will fail.
I figure that something went awry with the main span of the support truss, between the two piers. Whether connection failure(s), or failure of support members, the load carrying capacity of the truss was compromised.
If some structural members of a truss fail, the forces immediately transfer to the surviving members. In this case, apparently that was too much load. Consider this: if the ‘weak’ side began to give way, and the roadway began to tilt towards the weak side, that tilt would progress rapidly until the members beneath the ‘high’ side became more and more ineffectual at carrying the load.
Eventually the rotation/load shift reaches a tipping point, and the truss rolls over and drops the roadway into the river. That seems possible, after looking at the damage photos I previously linked to.
The pictures are rather weird. There are these sections of the bridge, sitting in the water. And the cars on top of it are all upright. They have kind of skidded to the edges, but all upright. So it looks like, for the center of the bridge, it was a straight, level fall into the water. I’ve been wondering if that has helped keep the numbers of deaths down.
The bridge collapsed at around 6:05 p.m. local. Tail end of rush hour + half the lanes closed due to construction + 1 hour prior to a Twins game at the Metrodome = very heavy traffic.
Seven confirmed dead now, and I’m guessing the number will climb into the upper 20s…
The bridge itself was built approximately 40 years ago. The reports I’ve been hearing are saying that the most recent inspections were in 2006, with no major structural problems noted. The bridge was apparently scheduled for replacement sometime between 2015-2023.
I’ve seen the pictures on TV, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what I’m gonna see on my way in to work tomorrow morning (via the light rail).
Damn.
Johnny, I love you 
I’ve been looking up the Mothman prophecy and the Silver Bridge disaster myself tonight.
The only heartening thing, if the body count doesn’t climb, is that there seem to be far fewer deaths than the in the bridge collapse the Mothman did warn people about. 46 died in that accident, and there had only been 31 cars crossing the bridge. Are cars better made these days? Or more float-y?
Interesting note for those of you who live in the Northern Minnesota Duluth area. In that town, there are two bridges to get you from Minnesota to Wisconsin: The older Blatnick bridge and the newer Bong Bridge. Years ago, my dad had a friend who was an engineer that told him that never in his life would he traverse the Blatnick Bridge. It was just too structurally unsound, he said.
Please pay head to this statement and make your judgments accordingly.
CNN is now reporting 7 confirmed dead, 62 injured.
Earlier 20 people had been reported missing. If there really are 50 cars underwater as has been reported, there are going to have to be a lot more than 20 people missing.
The only condolence I can offer to the family of the dead is, “I’m very sorry for your loss. But you’re a multi-millionaire now.”
Someone and some companies are so going to pay for this utter fuckin debacle.
That’s the way I feel about the Huey P Long bridge in New Orleans . :shudder: