35W Freeway Bridge Collapse

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Robert
Glad you are ok. My friend who just moved back to Minneapolis from San Francisco just emailed me about the collapse. He just moved into his new condo a few blocks away on 2nd Street SE. He had just passed under the eastern part of the bridge on his scooter when the bridge collapse. It reminded him of the SF earthquake of 1989 where a section of the SF Bay Bridge collapsed.
 
Whew. So many stories. Normally not there, but crossed that
bridge twice on Monday with a U-Haul truck. Watching WCCO (CBS).
They've said (engineers) the work on the bridge was not part of
the problem. They did say there was (were) a report(s) of some
problems with bridges in Minnesota. They were planning on doing
a test repair of that exact bridge at stress points/joints.

This bridge was constructed so it had a single 468' (?) span
to keep the river clear for navigation.
 
Glad to hear you are safe Robert!

I just got done watching "Mama's Family" on iontelevision and switched over to CNN at 8:00pm. I saw the breaking news and wondered what had happened then they said it was a major bridge in downtown Minneapolis. I immediately thought of you and am glad to hear that you and your partner are OK! My partner and I were in Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago and we took a river cruise on the three rivers. We went right under several bridges and it never even occurred to me that they could collapse. Then I think after I've heard this news that it could've happened anywhere. My thoughts and prayers are for all those who were on the structure or underneath it at the time of the collapse. Take care my friend. Mike
 
I just turned on the computer and saw the news flash!! Thank heavens Robert that you and Neal are safe!! Please if anyone hears about our other family members let us know.
 
They say the alternate route is 280. The way I remember it,
there is a stop light on 280 - 140,000 vehicles a day on a
freeway going through a stop light? That whole set of
interchanges - 280, 94, 35W is just going to be a real pain.

They just showed on the news that people at the baseball
game were instructed NOT to use the other bridges across
the river or use side streets. How are they supposed to
get home?
 
Robert, I'm glad that you and Neil are safe. Eugene, I'm glad that you're friend's daughter is not only fine, but stopped to help.

Don and the rest of the MN contingnent, please check in!

Mike
 
Just to clarify----I'm not located in Minneapolis, but I'm in the city a lot, especially during the summer months. I'll be there again for a few days starting Friday. Thankfully, all my peeps have either been checked on or have checked in and they're all safe. The two hours we were worried about Korey were not fun---talk about feeling helpless. But all is well.

This was a truss/arch bridge, which is held up by an overhead arch of steel. It's my understanding that the pillars into the ground and river do relatively little to actually hold the bridge up. It's anxiety-inducing that the bridge was given a clean bill of health in '01, '05 and '06. The problem with a truss/arch bridge, when compared to a suspension bridge, is that if any part of the arch fails, then the whole thing comes down, as it did today.
 
I thought they had changed it. There were numerous complaints
a few years ago about the Lieutenant Governor also taking over
the Dept. of Transportation responsibilities - a way for
Pawlenty to save money. The news just said she is still doing
both jobs (and she is currently in China.)

I always hated the design of that bridge.
 
We have around 20,000 bridges in Minnesota. Federal and state monies have been tight since the turn of the century and some have been predicting that unless large amounts of money were allocated to infrastructure, we would start to see catastophic bridge collapses in the state. As I said, this particular bridge passed its regular inspections, so it makes me wonder about the bridges that haven't fared as well.

I'm sure the fur will begin to fly as soon as the shock subsides.
 
Just called my family in Richfield, MN

and they're ok. My brother-in-law said that he and my younger niece had driven over the 35W bridge a few hours before.

My prayers for all the families still waiting to hear
and for those injured/killed.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Wow, I first saw it when checking the news on Huffingtonpost.com and then saw it on Rawstory.com and first thing thought of was our awesome moderator here -Robert. I am glad that everyone seems to be safe at this point.

Wow, I lived in Minneapolis area at one point.
The pictures remind me so much of the 1989 San Francisco or the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in California. I lived in Northridge in the 80s and the building accross the street from where I lived was leveled in 1994.
But Minneapolis isn't in a Earth Quake zone.

It kinda gets you thinking... among other things, about the bridges in your own area.

Thank goodness it was restricted to one lane as there would have been many more casualties. All you can do is thing of the positives at this point.

Take Care.
 
I heard of this around 4pm Pacific time

i am a big news junkie, I am always staying on top of it. i am glad that you are ok Robert, and Neil, and well, everyone that can be acounted for is. i have not heard any updates as of now, and it is 9:21 pm Pacific Time. From what I can gather, they are working as hard as they can to do what they can to put a positve spin on it.
 
Postive spin

7 dead, 20 missing, 38? injured.

Emergency response was outstanding - doctors, nurses on scene,
etc. (Major trauma medical center and University hospitals
only a mile or so away.)

"Lightly" traveled that time of day - and down to the single
lane.

Not sure what else can be said as far as "positive spin" other
than the people that survived.
 
I'm on the St. Paul side and don't travel that portion of 35W much, but still am waiting to hear from one friend who does.

The news said it's going to take years to build a new bridge, which is tough to hear since it's such a heavily traveled artery.

Jim
 
Re: Bridge Collapse:

Robert, Neal, Eugene, et-al, I'm glad to hear as well that you are all right, as are so many Family and Friends, that are accounted for.

My Heart and Prayers go out to the people that were killed by this tragic happening and to their survivors, as with everyone on the Appliance Club Site, for everyone in that general area, who are all right.

Peace, Blessings, Prayers and Hugs, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...
 
Talked to my friend who was with me crossing that bridge
Monday. She said she had thought about going up to MPLS
tonight to visit a couple guys who were former neighbors
and might have been going over the bridge at that time,
except she got a 2 x 3 inch piece of metal in her tire
on the way to work this morning. So we spent the afternoon
getting that taken care of instead.

And she said she had some bad thoughts about me and my bad
karma when she got the flat tire.
 

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