I35W, I drive this freeway almost everyday

[DeBenGuzzi]

and its completely GONE. A huge section collapsed into the Mississippi killing half a dozen and injuring 60, its lucky it was rush hour and traffic just droped straight down, if it was a normal time and ppl were moving fast there would be many more deaths but fewer injuries. I'm sure many of you heard about it, I drove over that span earlier in the day. Imagine if I had been on my motorcycle, I'd be one of the dead for sure, if I was in my work truck I'm sure I would have been fine but banged up. This seems extremely odd, I have a feeling MNDOT did something they weren't supposed to and compromised the bridge.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/02/bridge.wi...ews#cnnSTCPhoto

[Frenchbob]

Saw this on satellite news this morning, Ben. Glad you weren't on it. Very sorry for those who were.

[DeBenGuzzi]

there is video, its just like it said "I don't think I'll stay standing anymore" it happend even faster than I thought it would have, almost the whole span went down instantly.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/0...e.side.view.cnn

 

the president came on and said they are going to do everything they can as fast as they can to fix this, I wonder if the whole katrina thing has made them think they should be more accountable, it is a federal highway but completely overseen by the state, I'm no expert but the bridge wasn't that old in bridge terms, they musta done something wrong with the construction.

[jrt]

It's a strange and unpleasant occurrence, that's certain. I hope you and yours are ok. And condolences to all those hurt by this.

The bridge has been inspected every two years- for the last 17 (yes, seventeen), it has been certified as 'deficient, but serviceable'.

My opinion- and it's just that, I don't have any evidence- is that it will be a combination of fatigue and washing out the pilings by the Mississippi.

glad you are ok, ben.

[DeBenGuzzi]

It's a strange and unpleasant occurrence, that's certain. I hope you and yours are ok. And condolences to all those hurt by this.

The bridge has been inspected every two years- for the last 17 (yes, seventeen), it has been certified as 'deficient, but serviceable'.

My opinion- and it's just that, I don't have any evidence- is that it will be a combination of fatigue and washing out the pilings by the Mississippi.

glad you are ok, ben.

TRUEEEE, but there were actual holes in the bridge from the resurfacing and I have no idea what they were doing to it for sure but I didn't have a good feeling driving over it with'em cuttin it up. I figured they knew what they were doing and such so it was just a passing fear/inkling. I hope youre right and it had nothing to do with the work they're doing. Everyone I know is good and wasn't near the bridge at that time as with the construction it was horrible if you got stuck on it, I took 280 as much as I could. I'm suprised its not even worse that bridge is really high up.

[g.forrest]

a very sad thing to see for sure, usualy this is the type of thing you see happen in non western countries where internal infrastructure spending is practicaly non existant, usualy due to a poor economy or spending elsewhere like funding a war.

[Guzzirider]

Terrible for those who died and for those who have lost a loved one- but a miracle that nobody else was killed.

[mark.gilmore]

Glad all is safe for you Ben.You just never know when your time is up ? do you.

[Steve G.]

Hi Ben,

How is this bridge collapse going to effect the transportation system around Minneapolis? I'm thinking travel around that city will be a zoo until they can build a new bridge.

Ciao, Steve