Re: OT: [censored] thread, August, READ RULES IN TOP POST
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It's ridiculous, I mean on the one hand I understand if the state DOT is understaffed / underfunded. But at the same time, if it's people's lives you're dealing with, I think something ought to be done... I mean there should be SOME way to get properly staffed and funded so stuff like this doesn't happen. Maybe I'm just naive about the inner workings of issues like this or whatever, but seems pretty common sense to me that if you have a bridge that may or may not collapse, you should go all out to try to fix it.
They even said in one of the reports that road construction was being done a few miles away... So why in God's name wasn't the bridge being worked on?
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Some points from Twin Cities news shows today.
The Feds require bridges like this to be inspected every 24 months. Minnesota inspects them every 12 months.
The last couple of inspections noted some metal fatigue that did not present any immediate safety issues, but indicated that the bridge should be considered for repair or replacement at some point in the future.
The bridge was a steel structure with a concrete deck (roadway). A concrete crew was working on the bridge, resurfacing the deck, when it collapsed.
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