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kilikopele · LXF regular Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:35 pm Posts: 298

I now live about 45 minutes west of this site now, but I grew up right near here and used to drive this bridge daily. I still have a bunch of friends in this area.

Stories here:
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1338294.html
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_6518669?nclick_check=1
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291797,00.html

Those who have read my posts here know I'm a pretty light-hearted smart-ass fellow and, damn, I just HATE when crap like this happens to good people anywhere--let alone 5 minutes from several good friends of mine.

Dutch_Master · LXF regular Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:49 am Posts: 2353

Yeah, this sucks. I saw it on CNN last night just before I wanted to go to bed. That took a little longer as you can imagine... Unfortunately 7 are already confirmed as fatal casuality, but given the time of day and the number of cars in the water it's very unlikely it'll stay that low... Hope your friends are okay though.
Sad

nordle · LXF regular Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:56 pm Posts: 1497

The truly terrible point with these things is they are entirely preventable. And it looks as though the bridge had alreay been identified as being structuraly unsafe.

Thats the crap that pisses me off. What is the damn point of paying people / departments to carry out these tests when they appear to ignore the results?!?
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I think, therefore I compile

kilikopele · LXF regular Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:35 pm Posts: 298

Yeah, they have revised the numbers. So far only 4 are confirmed dead. Unfortunately, 30 are in the "unconfirmed" category. According to MSP police department, their efforts have shifted from "rescue" to "recovery" so that 30 will likely get moved into the less-fortunate category.

So far only one of my clients had a "close call" and my friends are all ok. My client who works in Edina (about 10 miles south and west) crossed the bridge at 5:30--about 35 minutes before it dropped.

nordle, I'm reserving comment on that. I've heard the reports on prior structural question marks, but I haven't read them specifically and the investigators haven't made any conclusions yet. I need to hold out hope that this was a freak incident and not bureaucratic mis-steps. It's too close to home for me to jump to skepticism.

Dark · Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 3:49 am Posts: 84

This is quite sad that this has happened (I myself have drove across the bridge on a number of occasions) Thankfully though the death toll has dropped, first they were saying that 9 had died, thankfully its only 4 now, The only thing is that its quite odd that all of the bridge dropped, only part of it should have if any.

kilikopele · LXF regular Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:35 pm Posts: 298

Nope, Dark. From what I'm growing to understand, it's a single truss deck-arch design with no redundancy which means if one section goes, they all go. Interesting also to know that in the last two decades they STOPPED making bridges like this.

nordle, I'm growing concerned at some more reports being brought to light. I'm sure more and more are yet to come. This sucks.

Dark, Minnesotan? Or did you just pass through?

nordle · LXF regular Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:56 pm Posts: 1497

Maybe we are getting different news, I'll have a look and try and get a link.

They gave it a 4/10 for safety. It's not as juvenile as it sounds, there really is an official 1-10 score. And 4 is pretty bad by all accounts.

Maybe I should have held back too. After all, the source for these "facts" is the British media, not renowned recently for being too accurate. It was on BBC News 24 where they interviewed some expert in Bridges.

Then again....

"When the span was last inspected in June 2006, its state of repair was rated 4 on a scale of 0-9, making it 'structurally deficient,' the US Transportation Department said."

http://tinyurl.com/26v29k
_________________
I think, therefore I compile

Dark · Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 3:49 am Posts: 84

I don't live in Minnesota, but I know a few relatives that do, and Ive been there a few times to visit them and so Ive passed on that bridge.

And now they have found 1 other that was missing dead bringing the toll up to 5 and around 8 are still missing.

kilikopele · LXF regular Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:35 pm Posts: 298

nordle,
It's interesting how the media responds in situations like this. Our local media is making its focus on the event and the people. The FURTHER you get from Minneapolis, the more the focus shifts towards blame and the threats that come as there are somewhere near 100 steel-deck truss bridges in the US. Our local media (Fox 9) made an early statement that there were 50 cars on the bridge. Within an hour, they had edited that statement to say, "According to one witness, there were..." But if you look at news all over the US (can't comment on news across the pond), the concept of "50 cars on bridge" still seems locked in the stories. Fact is, unfortunately, that noone knows how many cars were there. That's why the estimates keep changing.

The whole thing is just ugly.