Major Bridge Collapses in Minneapolis

[OnlineStageGear]

The news just listed the dead at 7. Very Sad. You just don't even think of a bridge like that ever failing without a horrific act of nature causing it.

Some bone-head on Fox said it was "4 bridges" that collapsed before he said 4 sections of the same bridge. The the camera that was zoomed in very close quickly zooms out and swings wildly to a wider shot of the same bridge but I thought he was looking at a different bridge. I thought we were under attack.

Matt

[AlexL]

Yeah, I was upstairs changing after work, and my wife called to me "Eric come and see this, a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis". I figured is was some small overpass, and was sure the news story would be over by the time I got downstairs. Then I saw what bridge it was. I couldn't believe it. It's was on TV all evening, on every channel.

A school bus was on the bridge when it collapsed, and miraculously, none of the children were killed; only minor injuries.


- E.

[jonasaberg]

Just saw it on the news this morning as I was heading out the door to go to work. Just awful man.

[chrisolson]

Yeah, I was upstairs changing after work, and my wife called to me "Eric come and see this, a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis". I figured is was some small overpass, and was sure the news story would be over by the time I got downstairs. Then I saw what bridge it was. I couldn't believe it. It's was on TV all evening, on every channel.

A school bus was on the bridge when it collapsed, and miraculously, none of the children were killed; only minor injuries.


- E.

Yeah - we had stopped on our bike ride to get shelter because of a thunderstorm. Somone's phone kept ringing, so finally he answered it, and told me about the collapse. I figured it was the Washington Ave bridge or something like that, but when we figured out it was the bridge over the river...my God...

Of course, everybody that knows me and my wife called us to see if we were okay.

From what I've heard this morning, they've downgraded the fatalities to 4, but that will most certainly rise as right now there are around 20 missing. It's really (and I HATE this word) surreal. Frightening, terrible, and a blessing all at once.

[shredmonster]

Looks like something out of a bad movie - earthquake in CA kind of thing.

I can't imagine what must have been going through people's minds that were on that thing.

Firggen' lawyers this morning on FOX already licking their chops over this.

[OnlineStageGear]

There is video of the bridge falling.

http://www.cnn.com/

The death toll is now down to 4 ?

[shreddermon]

Dear God. RIP to the victims.

This, folks, is the quality of prioritization we're getting from our elected officials. Pork projects and other fluff are more important to them than maintaining our roads and bridges. NY Thruway, Mass Big Dig, now Minneapolis. And people have been dying for it.

[Firebird V]

good luck to our brothers and sisters in minnesota... my thoughts are with you.

+1

just watched that video/ horrible. my thoughts go out to all those who have family members that died or are injured.

[chrisolson]

Firggen' lawyers this morning on FOX already licking their chops over this.

You knew it would happen - and Amy Klobuchar is only adding fuel to the fire.

[fuel0707]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their family and friends. Let's hope some lessons are learned from this tragedy that can be applied in the future to prevent other collapses.

[Jason1212]

"In 2005, the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement, according to a federal database. The span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability in that review, White House press secretary Tony Snow said."

With information like this coming out the lawyers will be circling like buzzards for sure. This is a really sad situation and was totally avoidable.

[Spivonious]

I just thought of something. It's probably good that traffic wasn't moving fast, otherwise people coming up to the bridge would have just launched off into space. That would suck to be on the bridge when it collapsed, survive the fall, and then have some idiot doing 90 in an SUV come crashing down on top of you.

[chrisolson]

"In 2005, the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement, according to a federal database. The span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability in that review, White House press secretary Tony Snow said."

With information like this coming out the lawyers will be circling like buzzards for sure. This is a really sad situation and was totally avoidable.

From what I understood, in 2006, it was given an acceptable rating, but was due for replacement in around 2010. There will be a lot of "spin" on this - they're looking for someone to hang already.

I'm just waiting for the "It's GW's fault"... It's bound to happen, and one of our Representatives is already headed there - he's blamed it on BOTH Bush's - interesting...Clinton had 8 years to fix it.

[chrisolson]

I just thought of something. It's probably good that traffic wasn't moving fast, otherwise people coming up to the bridge would have just launched off into space. That would suck to be on the bridge when it collapsed, survive the fall, and then have some idiot doing 90 in an SUV come crashing down on top of you.

Traffic during rush hour is generally not very fast just due to the congestion there - but you do make a good point. The vehicles that were hanging on to the deck would not have been able to.

[Special-K]

I`ve heard it on the radio, terrible...