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Bridge collapse in Minneapolis kills 7; many injured
BY PATRICK CONDON The Associated Press

   MINNEAPOLIS — An interstate bridge suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River during bumper-to-bumper traffic Wednesday, killing at least seven people and 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 collapsed.
   “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.”
   Jamie Winegar of Houston said she was sitting in traffic when all of a sudden she started hearing “boom, boom, boom and we were just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping.”
   The car she was riding in landed on top of a smaller car but did not fall into the water. She said her nephew yelled, “ ‘It’s an earthquake!’ and then we realized the bridge was collapsing.”
   Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said more than least 60 people were injured and the death toll could rise.
   There were no immediate reports on the total number of injured, but Dr. Joseph Clinton, emergency medical chief at Hennepin County Medical Center, said the hospital treated 28 injured people — including six who were in critical condition.
   Other hospitals also were treating the injured. Clinton said at least one of the victims had drowned.
   The arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rises about 64 feet above the river. 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.
   Christine Swift’s 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in suburban Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.
   “She was screaming, ‘The bridge collapsed,’ ” Swift said.

BRIAN PETERSON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Interstate 35W freeway bridge over the Mississippi River is seen after it collapsed Wednesday.

Luckily, a bunch of children on a bus weren't hurt, but here's something maybe Rotterdam should think of... INFRASTRUCTURE!!!

If the bridge falls on town hall then maybe someone in there will realize that our infrastructure is falling apart too.

INFRASTRUCTURE.......

I guess we need those Egyptians to show us how to build a structure that won't fall....like those pyramids!!!!  

Would that be to make our bricks with less straw.....oh no, that would be taxes......

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Bridge warnings came 17 years ago Feds said span was ‘structurally deficient’
BY SHARON COHEN AND BRIAN BAKST
The Associated Press

   MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota officials were warned as early as 1990 that the bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River was “structurally deficient,” yet they relied on patchwork repairs and stepped-up inspections that unraveled amid a thunderous plunge of concrete and automobiles.
   “We thought we had done all we could,” state bridge engineer Dan Dorgan told reporters not far from the mangled remains of the span. “Obviously, something went terribly wrong.”
   Questions about the cause of the collapse and whether it could have been prevented arose Thursday as authorities shifted from rescue efforts to a grim recovery operation, searching for bodies that may be hidden beneath the river’s swirling currents.
   The official death count from Wednesday’s rush-hour collapse stood at four, with another 79 injuries. But police said the death count would surely grow because bodies had been spotted in the water and as many as 30 people were still said to be missing.
   The Army Corps of Engineers lowered the river level a foot to help recovery efforts, said agency spokeswoman Shannon Bauer.
   In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of “structurally deficient,” citing significant corrosion in its bearings. The bridge is one of about 77,000 bridges in that category nationwide, 1,160 in Minnesota alone.
   The designation means that some portions of the bridge needed to be scheduled for repair or replacement, and it was on a schedule for inspection every two years.
   Dorgan said the bearings could not have been repaired without jacking up the entire deck of the bridge. Because the bearings were not sliding, inspectors concluded that the corrosion was not a major issue.
   During the 1990s, later inspections found fatigue cracks and corrosion in the steel around the bridge’s joints. Those problems were repaired. Starting in 1993, the state said, the bridge was inspected annually instead of every other year.
   A 2005 federal inspection also rated the bridge structurally deficient, giving it a 50 on a scale of 100 for structural stability.
   White House press secretary Tony Snow said that while the inspection didn’t indicate that the bridge was at risk of failing, “if an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions.”
   Gov. Tim Pawlenty responded Thursday by ordering an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs but said the state was never warned that the bridge needed to be closed or immediately repaired.
   “There was a view that the bridge was ultimately and eventually going to need to be replaced,” he said. “But it appears from the information that we have available that a timeline for that was not immediate or imminent but more in the future.”
   Federal officials alerted states to immediately inspect all bridges similar to the one that collapsed.
   The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge was Minnesota’s busiest bridge, carrying 141,000 vehicles a day. It was in the midst of mostly repaving repairs when it buckled during the evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top of one another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.
   Engineers wondered whether heavy traffi c might have contributed to the collapse. Studies of the bridge have raised concern about cracks caused by metal fatigue.
   “I think everybody is looking at fatigue right now,” said Kent Harries, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Engineering. “This is an interstate bridge that sees a lot of truck traffic.”
   After a study raised concern about cracks, the state was given two alternatives: Add steel plates to reinforce critical parts or conduct a thorough inspection of certain areas to see if there were additional cracks. They chose the inspection route, beginning that examination in May.
   Dorgan said officials considered the cracks on parts of the bridge to be stable and not expanding.
   When conducting inspections, Dorgan said, inspectors get within an arm’s length of various components of a bridge. If they spot cracks, that leads to more hands-on testing to determine the depth and extent of the fissures.
   Although concern was raised about cracks, some experts theorized that it’s no coincidence the collapse happened when workers and heavy equipment were on the bridge. The construction work involved resurfacing and maintenance on guardrails and lights, among other repairs.
   “I would be stunned if this didn’t have something to do with the construction project,” said David Schulz, director of the Infrastrucure Tecchnology Institute at Northwestern University. “I think it’s a major factor.”
   The collapsed bridge’s last full inspection was completed June 15, 2006. The report shows previous inspectors’ notations of fatigue cracks in the spans approaching the river, including one 4 feet long that was reinforced with bolted plates.

BEN GARVIN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An aerial view taken Thursday shows a section of the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

All I can say is that engineers design these things just the same way that engineers give the ok to big developments to be built in a known wetlands and sometimes with the same results.

You are correct on that one!!