Bridge collapses in Minnesota

[bonds]

What you really don't get from the pictures is how far that bridge was above the river. Those bluffs are pretty high.

[efficacy]

Here are some of the photos I took.

I heard a kid with blood on his face talking to an AP reporter. He was one of the first people on the scene pulling people out of cars. He described it as 'carnage'.

[SL__72]

That one picture does a good job of showing how high it was. It was at the same level as the 10th Ave. bridge which you see trucks on.

[whiskeytown]

I don't cross that bridge that much - almost crossed it last week - it's about 60 feet off the ground.

heard they were resurfacing - I know that stretch of 35W was closed this weekend cause I tried to cross it but couldn't - train was passing under one side of it and the span collapsed on the tracks, so maybe the freight train vibrations took something down -

reports are it was shaking and rocking and then just started collapsing like it was made of cards -

one fatality (possibly 3) - local news is keeping us up to date - I'm about a mile away at work -

about 100K cars cross it every day -

rb

[icepick]

I'm okay, if anyone cares.

Got called into work. You can imagine that the cell network there is basically melting. Techs in route to add capacity.

[ligastar]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't cross that bridge that much - almost crossed it last week - it's about 60 feet off the ground.

heard they were resurfacing - I know that stretch of 35W was closed this weekend cause I tried to cross it but couldn't - train was passing under one side of it and the span collapsed on the tracks, so maybe the freight train vibrations took something down -

reports are it was shaking and rocking and then just started collapsing like it was made of cards -

one fatality (possibly 3) - local news is keeping us up to date - I'm about a mile away at work -

about 100K cars cross it every day -

rb

[/ QUOTE ]

whiskeytown,

It is a fact that the train we see crushed by part of the bridge was moving during the collapse?

[icepick]

2002 traffic counts put it at 140k cars/day. Easily 170k+ now a days I imagine.

[scotchnrocks]

Does anybody have any profile views of the bridge before the collapse? There are many possible failure mechanisms and a clear picture of the structural system would make it easier to identify them.

[whiskeytown]

[ QUOTE ]
2002 traffic counts put it at 140k cars/day. Easily 170k+ now a days I imagine.

[/ QUOTE ] -

yah, it's a pretty important bridge into downtown - traffic commuting is gonna get a lot more complicated from the NE into downtown.

I haven't heard if the train was moving when it got crushed. I suspect investigation is still a few days away.

RB

[Uglyowl]

I was wondering why the Twins game was still going on, here is an excerpt from Gambling911 from Foxnews:

"Wednesday night's game was continuing out of fear that letting fans out early would hinder rescue efforts."

Thursdays game canceled.