Other factors affecting mortality would be speed of traffic at the time of the collapse. Whether the cars would be hitting anything or not on the span, if they’re in stop and go traffic, that’s that much less kinetic energy to dealt with when the car hits bottom than if the car were going 60 mph.
And the weather is also a factor - having this happen in high summer is much better than in the middle of winter. I can’t point to any exact numbers, but it’s unlikely that hypothermia was a huge, immediate threat to those who survived the fall. Not knowing the river temps, I can’t say it’s not a factor for those who were trapped, but winter time water immesion can be fatal within five minutes IIRC.
I just got back from looking at the scene on foot. It’s not much of a walk from where I work. The cops have everything cordoned off pretty tight so you can’t get too close. You can only catch glimpses of it here and there. It all seems so still. A kind of monument of death.
There are police from as far away as Eden Prairie and the place is a media circus. Not only are the national crews here, but local stations from around the country are also on the scene. Helicopters are going around constantly.
The person who sits next to me at work knows someone whose brother died, but no names have been officially released.
did that area have some sort of ferry service before the bridges?
i know the big miss is a very tough river with horrid currents, whirlpools, and rapids. not to mention the mud. not the clearest river in north america.
i saw the same footage with the water fowl! that was utterly surreal. there were quite a few birds flying by in the helicopter shots.
just a bit ago i could swear i saw a rat run across the bridge while contessa was reporting for msnbc.
I’ve been wondering what will be done about all the other bridges nationwide that need to be replaced before they fall. Isn’t there a Federal fund set up for the upkeep of roads and bridges nationwide? I had heard somewhere there was, but that funds were rarely doled out from it.
Ferry Service - no.
Dirty - Not too bad at Mpls. Gets worse as it goes south.
Rat - Maybe, but rats are not a common sight in this town, especially in the river.
According to NPR the Highway Fund had it’s budget cut by nearly $100 billion and that states tend to spend the money they get from it on things like expansion, rather than maintence, since that’s “sexier.” The tab, just to fix the bridges known to be in need of replacement, comes out to $9billion/yr, for the next 20 years. Or $180 billion now. Or $3.42 billion a week, to use a pricing scheme we’re all somewhat familiar with.
Actually not so. The Mighty miss aint that mighty up here. Channels are dredged for even barge traffic, and barges don’t have much for draft. from the Strib
At that point, just past the locks at St. Anthony, the river is mostly shallow except for a pretty deep channel on one side carved out both by dredging to the lock entrance, and current. On top of that, the Army Corps of engineers is tweaking the water levels by as much as two feet during the recovery efforts. The current, on the other hand, is a bear.
I mostly agree with Nurse Carmen. If not for the dredging, you could just about walk across the river in that area.
Presently, even the current isn’t that strong. I’ve stood in the same current downstream fishing in water up to my waist as recently as last wekend, and it was no big deal. And this in an area more constricted (and therefore in a faster current) than in downtown Minneapolis.
I guess it’s a good thing that Jim Oberstar chairs the Transportation Committee in the US House. He drafted and cleared a bill through his committee in one day, and it will go before the full House tomorrow. It should get fast tracked through the Senate before they adjourn.
It’s for $350,000,000.00. The total cost to rebuild the bridge will be born by the federal government.
That’s on the east bank (really the north end of the bridge). It’s looking west. That little white roof that’s sticking up in the middle is the top of a small UofMN research building. The black smoke stacks are the U steam plant.
