Bridge falls into Mississippi river

Quote:

MINNEAPOLIS - The entire span of an interstate bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.



The Interstate 35W bridge, a major link between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was in the midst of being repaired when it broke into several huge sections.

"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

The Homeland Security Department had received no indications Wednesday night that the collapse was related to an act of terrorism, department spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington.

"At this time, there's no indication of a nexus to terrorism," Knocke said.

It was not clear how many people were injured. WCCO-AM reported that one body was seen being pulled from the area, covered with a blue sheet.

An estimated 50 vehicles plunged into the water and onto the land below, the Star-Tribune reported.

A burning truck and a school bus clung to one slanted slab,

The bus had just crossed the bridge before it crumpled into pieces, and broadcast reports indicated the children on the bus exited out the back door.

Ramon Houge told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he was on his way home from work on the bridge when he heard a rumbling noise, saw the ground collapse and cars go down.

Traffic was bumper to bumper and hundreds of people would have been involved, he said. He said cars backed up as best they could and he parked in a construction zone and was finally able to turn around and drive off the bridge. "It didn't seem like it was real," he said.

Dozens of vehicles were scattered and stacked on top of each other amid the rubble. Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water.

Local television stations captured video of injured people being carried up the riverbank. There was no official word on injuries, but dozens of rescue vehicles were there. Divers were also in the water.

Gregory Wernick Sr., Rockford, Ill., drove over the bridge shortly before the collapse. He stopped to get a drink nearby and heard commotion so he went back.

"I figure I crossed about 10 minutes before it happened," he said. "That's just too close to call."

He was standing about 200 feet away on top of a parking ramp with large group of people.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said.

The arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rises about 64 feet above the river. Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge's surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the interstate, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on its Web site.

Wow, just wow. This is awful.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

That's terrible. What's with all the bridge collapses lately? I've heard of two bridge collapses here in California this year. Those incidents were caused by vehicles hitting one support on each bridge though so they're not spontaneous collapses, but still.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I was watching this--the last report I saw stated that 7 people were confirmed dead. One side of the bridge looks like it did a "see-saw" thing: one side went down, the other side went up, snapping away from the rest of the bridge and staying at a 45 degree angle. Part of the bridge went straight down into the water, and the rest on the other side is twisted a little with the sections apart.

A lot of the witness reports say the same thing about a "rumbling" noise.

The fact that anyone was able to get out in bumper to bumper traffic is amazing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Slow News Week

I don't care how callous that makes me sound, but it's the truth.

"We're keeping you updated on this disaster"

2 hours later...

"Bridge still in river."

Got a great gaff from Keith Olberman calling it a "good disaster," though.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I saw the NBC interruption bearing this news. It was naturally shocking and I felt poorly for the victims, but the voiceover person said something that gave me a bit of a "WTF" moment.

He said, "We've spoken with a representative from the Department of Homeland Security and they do not believe that this was an act of terrorism."

And why would it be? A bridge collapsing is a plausibly domestic problem. In fact, the possibility of terrorism hadn't occurred to me - or anyone in the room - until that nimrod said anything. The comment felt more like a quick grab at sensationalism than anything else.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I was like, wow, did Michael Bay decide to go to Minnesota for the extended version of Transformers? But yeah, this looks pretty gross, I bet some people thought of a possible terrorist attack

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

When I first read about this story, I was shocked that the only mention about fatalities was that one body being pulled from the river in a blue sheet. I mean, I was expecting "Possibly hundreds dead, many injured", yet all there was about deaths was that one little body. Not that I want to hear about the deaths, but seriously.

Yet the 'act of terrorism' bullshit was mentioned at least twice in the same article. "Dont worry folks, we're not sure how many people have lost their lives, but we have confirmed that this was NOT an act of terrorism. All is well."

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I saw the NBC interruption bearing this news. It was naturally shocking and I felt poorly for the victims, but the voiceover person said something that gave me a bit of a "WTF" moment.

He said, "We've spoken with a representative from the Department of Homeland Security and they do not believe that this was an act of terrorism."

And why would it be? A bridge collapsing is a plausibly domestic problem. In fact, the possibility of terrorism hadn't occurred to me - or anyone in the room - until that nimrod said anything. The comment felt more like a quick grab at sensationalism than anything else.

Actually, uhhh. Back right after 9/11 'round these parts, they had both state troopers and the guard out by the major bridges and water supplies.

The national guards literally carried big guns and were OMNIOUS looking. Usually, people went for walks over some of the dams and around the reservoir. They were no longer allowed to, thanks to scary people with guns.

Of course, after 9/11 kind of fell into the cobwebs of most peoples' minds, this hype died down.

I saw the news and I was thinking "Huh. If I was a terrorist, thats not how I would terrorize the nation." But it did cross my mind in a kind of humorous moment, which I shouldn't have had.

You have to admit, though. It LOOKS cool.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

I saw the news and I was thinking "Huh. If I was a terrorist, thats not how I would terrorize the nation."

Well, apparently, if it HAD BEEN a terrorist attack, they would have done a good job in terrorizing the US automobile industry and thus the powerful US economy in general. I mean, just look at that, some of the cars fell off the fucking bridge when it collapsed. That's definitely a deficiency.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I guess my point is that it's not healthy for a nation's first response to calamity to be one of suspicion and cultural animosity. The proper response is "What a shame.", not "Which cowardly bunch of sand-niggers did it this time?"

It's been a reasonable amount of time since 9/11, but the damned news media just won't let the people heal. Even mentioning terrorism still stirs the pot of fear and intolerance. That's what bothers me about the coverage.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I like the idea that Homeland Security had to make sure to inform us that terrorists didn't attack Minnesota.

"Yeah, we thought about attacking Washington or NYC or Boston or Philly or LA or Dallas but we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get those fuckers who drive across bridges in Minneapolis."

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

My mom actually wondered if it was a terrorist attack....First words out of her mouth, actually.

I, on the other hand, thought--"How the FUCK did that happen?"

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Very sad to hear. And very concerning as well. I mean, people are already uneasy with bridges, and yet things like this happen.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Musharraf

Well, apparently, if it HAD BEEN a terrorist attack, they would have done a good job in terrorizing the US automobile industry and thus the powerful US economy in general. I mean, just look at that, some of the cars fell off the fucking bridge when it collapsed. That's definitely a deficiency.

I'd be more inclined to agree with you if there were a series of bridge collapses all over the country. Otherwise, there are so many bridges in this country that don't collapse on any given day, and especially ones that are used more frequently, whether because of failed engineering, a lack of structural integrity or terrorism, and I would be hard pressed to worry about them collapsing underneath me. Even if there was terrorism involved, I still wouldn't worry too much. See also: air travel

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Video of the bridge collapse:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/08/02...ew#cnnSTCVideo

Fucked up thinking I was on that bridge two hours before it happened :/. Luckily I didn't know anybody on it. I feel terrible for anyone who was.

Considering road construction has already been a huge problem for the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, traffic is now going to be at a level beyond hell for the next couple of months...

FELIPE NO

The plane crash in Brazil a few weeks ago didn't float to the top of headlines for long at all (200+ people dead I think). Why? That wasn't a slow news week. Just like Brady said. Pardon me for being cold-and-detached.

Crash --
lol. I said the same thing in gfchat regarding knee-jerk "terrorism" stuff.

"Crap. I dropped my keys. TERRIZM! "

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by mortis

Very sad to hear. And very concerning as well. I mean, people are already uneasy with bridges, and yet things like this happen.

Not really, and not really. I know it's a tragedy, but seven people is a lot better than it could have been. Frankly, I was surprised it wasn't much more.

And, really, how is this concerning in the least? One bridge collapse shouldn't be enough to shake your confidence when there are thousands of bridges operating perfectly fine every single day. And that's just in Pittsburgh.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah, we were all in chat yesterday afternoon basically blaming the terrorist attack on the bridge on me, so... yeah...

I feel bad for whoever happened to be on that bridge and all but really people... NO TERRORISTS WERE INVOLVED. As Dull pointed out yesterday with a nice visual aid: The truss just failed as flimsily as melting butter. It was either shoddy engineering (most likely) or the culmination of 40 years of weather fluctuations from bitter cold winters to hot-as-fuck summers. (far-fetched but still theoretically possible)

In any case, my hopes go out to finding survivors.


There's nowhere I can't reach.

What a terrible mess. I can only hope that this will begin a series of improvement projects to make sure that other bridges around the country don't suffer the same fate (After all, out of tragedy there is always a good side, and the media tends to have 'Now with STRUCTURE X's demise/collapse, how can we protect STRUCTURES W, Y AND Z?").

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Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I guess my point is that it's not healthy for a nation's first response to calamity to be one of suspicion and cultural animosity. The proper response is "What a shame.", not "Which cowardly bunch of sand-niggers did it this time?"

It's been a reasonable amount of time since 9/11, but the damned news media just won't let the people heal. Even mentioning terrorism still stirs the pot of fear and intolerance. That's what bothers me about the coverage.

It's a sad state of affairs, that. The people have been told to constantly worry about "attacks on America." You never know what they're going to do next! Live in worry! Live in fear of those attacks. Are you kidding me.

The only reason I thought of terrorism (and subsequently wondered if other bridges would fall) is because the bridge crossed the Mississippi. I was thinking maybe other bridges would fall from north to south in a nice line-up.

But that's mostly because I love drama, so.

Ence, it's an extremely rare thing to happen. It's happened before, sure. But considering all the bridges in the US that we pass over without even thinking out it, it's not a very regular kind of incident.

Weather conditions I doubt had anything to do with it, though. Fluctuations in seasonal temperatures would be considered in the engineering of a bridge in Minnesota (or anywhere else with vast differences in season temps/conditions).

I'm willing to put $10 on shore erosion.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by BlueBomber

Video of the bridge collapse:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/08/02...ew#cnnSTCVideo

Fucked up thinking I was on that bridge two hours before it happened :/. Luckily I didn't know anybody on it. I feel terrible for anyone who was.

Considering road construction has already been a huge problem for the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, traffic is now going to be at a level beyond hell for the next couple of months...

Yeah, no kidding. I go to the University of Minnesota, which is about 3 blocks from this bridge. I used to cross it all the time when I would go home on weekends. The exit I take to get to school is University Avenue, which is the last exit before the bridge. This is going to make getting to school a bad experience.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

You never know what they're going to do next! Live in worry! Live in fear of those attacks.

It's funny, because when you break down the word "terrorism", it's the act of instilling fear.

Pardon the cliche`, but methinks the terrorists have won =o

BACK AWN TOPIC~

Edit:: lolol. Thanks Capo :O Like I said, I only saw occasional blurbs and haven't paid much mind to the story. I thought this was IN Mississippi, not ON the Mississippi. Disregard what I had here =o

How ya doing, buddy?

Where exactly is any salt water coming from? Freshwater lakes and rivers feed into the Mississippi.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

I guess my point is that it's not healthy for a nation's first response to calamity to be one of suspicion and cultural animosity. The proper response is "What a shame.", not "Which cowardly bunch of sand-niggers did it this time?"

I would argue that it is not the nation's first response towards a catastrophe of this magnitude. However, it would be Homeland Security's first response, and their job is to make sure everyone knows that they're working so they talk about what isn't terrorism a lot.

I mean, the nation can do several things at once. It's pretty big.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Capo

Not really, and not really. I know it's a tragedy, but seven people is a lot better than it could have been. Frankly, I was surprised it wasn't much more.

you all know that that isn't seven people dead, that's seven people confirmed dead, right? There's a couple of dozen people left unaccounted for and probably dead.

Yes, I know it's 1/100th of a 9/11 and thus unworthy of taking up more time than, say, the loss of Paris Hilton's inheritance, but can we keep the jaded musings of an entertainment-news industrial complex gone mad with stupid news stories that only affect white people to at minimum two or three days after the event? Jesus christ.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Paco Vato Loco

It was either shoddy engineering (most likely) or the culmination of 40 years of weather fluctuations from bitter cold winters to hot-as-fuck summers. (far-fetched but still theoretically possible)

I'm not an engineer, but I imagine that an interstate bridge constructed with shoddy engineering would not have stood for forty years and, even recently, did not show any signs of significant structural damage. But I did hear that it was deemed structurally deficient a few years back, I'm not saying it's superbridge or wasn't in need of repairs.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Crunk Nation

I can only hope that this will begin a series of improvement projects to make sure that other bridges around the country don't suffer the same fate (After all, out of tragedy there is always a good side, and the media tends to have 'Now with STRUCTURE X's demise/collapse, how can we protect STRUCTURES W, Y AND Z?").

Looks like I was right:

http://www.yahoo.com/s/135782/*http:.../bridge_safety

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