Professional Astronomers? Like what, they hooked up the Hubble Space Telescope to a time machine and then aimed it backwards or somethin’?
“For Bush administration, overall, September will not be as bad as August. September 11-25 period is good for the republicans and for the Bush administration…”
Well, by God, his approval ratings have gone through the roof.
The local newscast stated that the warning was for the entire west coast.
The mayor, police chief and Seattles’ highest ranking FBI agent held a press conference a few minutes ago. They seemed to be very unconcerned.
We here in Washington have only one suspension bridge to worry about, the aforementioned Tacoma Narrows (which has been repaired since the 1949 incident 
). But all of our bridges are now apparently under heightened security (whatever that means).
Holy SheepShit, PhlatMan!
Thanks, MEBuckner - that’s what I get for changing my .sig on a whim!
Here, for all, the new, improved, accuracy -installed CyberHippy signature:
Well, I only go over the Bay Bridge twice a day. I wonder if my wife will make me take the ferry. (She’s been sick and sleeping so she hasn’t hear this one yet.)
I especially like how MSNBC has live cameras set up at all the threatened bridges so I can watch my husband’s truck being hurled through space when one blows up. Ghoulish!
:mad:
I heard this morning that California officials have “substantial measures in place” to deal with a perceived threat, including units of the Highway Patrol and Coast Guard. I’m doing my best to keep images of Eric Estrada out of my mind. At the same time, they say traffic will continue, unabated.
As drachillix mentioned earlier, fire would be a potential weapon as opposed to explosives, and that scenario worries me most.
We had a drunken truck driver kill a father and his sons here a number of months back when his minitanker collided with their SUV on an overpass. The flammable liquids he was carrying escaped and the resulting fire severly damaged the roadway and required extensive repairs. This was from one of the small tankers, about 1/3 to 1/4 as big as the others.
I sincerely hope no fuel tankers will be allowed on the bridges in question and that sufficient HazMat and fire fighting resources are on hand.
BTW, how the hell do you stop a hellbent gasoline tanker?
Since when are Hazmats allowed on bridges in major cities? I always thought that was illegal as hell.
Is that right? Obviously I don’t live anywhere near one and had no idea. So gasoline tankers are not allowed to cross major bridges?
Yes, they are allowed … but very cautiously in the last few weeks.
I have thought of a worse scenario, but I don’t think I should put it on a public board.
Self-Censorship? I dunno… 
Oh, c’mon! Don’t leave us in suspense…
Thanks for the link, Monocracy, but actually I’m wondering about the tractor trailer type on our roadways. They’re often stainless steel or white and have “Flammable” signs displayed. Why not pull one of those up to the middle of the bridge, open a few valves and toss a lit butt?
The damn thing would likely burn for 7 or 8 hours and be near impossible to extinguish. We’ve seen what fuel does to steel and concrete.
Are these type rigs allowed on bridges?
Somebody else has posted a varient on my notion in another thread.
It involves a freighter loaded with explosive cargo.
Think “floating bomb”.
Not a problem. Park a fire boat next to the bridge and pump water on the fire until it burns itself out. The water will keep the steel structure cool so it won’t fail. Alternatively, fly a water bomber over the burning bridge (California has several to fight forest fires). A single 6000 gallon load of water and foam ought to do the trick.
Yeah, that’s a possibility. It actually happened in Halifax harbor in Canada on December 6, 1917. A freighter carrying a huge load of explosives for the war in Europe collided with another ship and caught fire. The explosion wrecked the entire harbour and quite a bit of the downtown.
By the way, a correction to my previous post: 6000 gallons should read 6000 pounds.
OTOH, of mild amusement to me was the fact that Montana is among the Western states on “high alert” for it’s suspension bridges – which I was unaware it had any of, and which would probably do in about a year the traffic major metropolitan bridges do in half a day.
I can just hear the terrorists: “Today New York and the Pentagon – tomorrow Montana!!”
Can a fire boat’s stream reach from sea level to above the road surface?
Depending on the bridge, wouldn’t the supports make an accurate foam drop difficult, both by keeping the plane at a distance and deflecting the dropped substance?
As the fuel continues to pour from the tanker and begins to ignite the gas tanks of abandoned cars surrounding it, things would begin to get a little dicey.
Thank goodness this is a hypothetical.
Here you go, Jodi:
Wahahaha! Exactly. The Axtell Bridge. Which, though it does sport some stone-cold fabulous fishing, is not in the Hot One-Hundred Terrorist Targets.
But if those dirty bastards come for it, I’m sure the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office Auxilary Posse will be waiting!
Easily. Fire boats in large ports are meant to put out fires on the biggest ships in the port while standing off a long distance. They can handily reach several hundred feet.
How is this different from dropping water on a forest fire? Trees, especially on the west coast, are tall spindly objects, just like the towers of a bridge.
A fuel tanker trailer could be carrying up to 50,000 pounds of fuel. That’s over 8500 gallons. The average passenger auto carries about 10 to 20 gallons maximum, while semi-trucks carry upwards of 200 gallons. I don’t think the fuel tanks of the surrounding vehicles will make much difference.
Agreed, but if we’re not vigilant, it could become all too real.