Major Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota... Many Injuries/Deaths Feared

Major Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota... Many Injuries/Deaths Feared

Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Interstate Hwy. 35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed this afternoon, dumping at least eight cars and a truck into the water and land below.
It was not clear how many people might be hurt or killed.

Workers have been repairing the bridge surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the Interstate.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 8/1/2007 by djohnsto77]

I'm looking at this live on TV, it looks absolutely horrific!


(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 8/1/2007 by djohnsto77]

[edit on 8/1/2007 by djohnsto77]

What a horrible scene! I'm also watching and they say workers were only repairing the bridge surface...I thought it was damage from a massive earthquake!!!
Cars, trucks, bycycles, all in the water and fires breaking out

All happening at rush hour. This is truly a disaster. Many pedestrians on bridge also!!!

:shk:

I live just a few miles from this bridge and travel it alot! Wow is all I can say!

Just breaking on Sky and CNN here in UK, looks pretty serious.

my goodness.. you should see the pics on CNN right now..... someone in a building nearby is on the phone and took the pictures, has a great view of the bridge.

This comes as no surprise to me, alot of the infrastructure in the USA is old and decrepit. It's gotten to a point to where we are overwhelmed by it and Contractors cannot keep up with the repairs. This country is bigger then itself, officials are clueless as to how to manage these problems and we will be seeing alot of incidences like this in the coming future.

[edit on 1-8-2007 by Samblak]

I think it was a possible terrorist attack due to the reason that the reporter on fox news was saying that there was minor construction taking place on the bridge and gave the comment that there had to be some type of impact or explosion for such a catastrophe to happen....


Article From CNN

[edit on 1-8-2007 by Trinity2492]

Originally posted by Trinity2492
I think it was a possible terrorist attack due to the reason that the reporter on fox news was saying that there was minor construction taking place on the bridge and gave the comment that there had to be some type of impact or explosion for such a catastrophe to happen....

Believe it or not, many of my friends around here have already thought the same thing. According to 1 witness, they heard something right before hand, but couldnt tell if it was infact an explosion, or just the rumbling of the bridge. As for the construction, I just traveld that a ew days ago. There is no construction on that portion of the bridge, but just to the north and to the south of the bridge, but not on the bridge it self.

This is the bridge ( I hope it isn't too big) and if you watch the news it is totally gone. All that remains is the road surface sitting on those short little concrete footings.


Jon

wow just s few replies until someone claimed TERRORIST>..


It was NOT terrorism. Accidents happen ya know.

My goodness, it must be awful to live in such fear as every little thing that happens causes one to jump to blame everything on terrorism.

Here's another source:

Originally posted by Trinity2492
the reporter on fox news was saying that there was minor construction taking place on the bridge and gave the comment that there had to be some type of impact or explosion for such a catastrophe to happen....

Oh yeah, a reporter who's job is to make news exciting and extraordinary, wouldn't just want to report that a collapse had happened...

He has no idea if there had to be an impact or explosion to cause this, total speculation on his part.

Hey I am just reporting what I heard on the news...

news is implying it could have been a 'construction error' wait to see on this one

sending out prayers their way

Whether or not it was a terrorist attack is not the priority at present, the important thing is the safety and well being of all affected. However, I can understand why someone would jump to that conclusion in the current climate, yet I suspect that time will show that there has been a engineering / structural failure.

By the shear scale of the devastation being shown then it must have been something pretty substantial that has triggered it.

Originally posted by Trinity2492
Hey I am just reporting what I heard on the news...

no you said that you think it could be terrorist.... and then added what the reporter said on the news

Watching it now, crazy stuff. Hope there isn't too many injuries.

could this have done it..

This bridge project has probably been the biggest disaster and headache for MnDOT officials and residents that have to cross the bridge. It was opened in 1960 but at the time, 35W only went as far as MN-13, a little over a mile past the bridge on the south side. Residents called it "The bridge to nowhere." By 1980 with fast growing suburbs south of the river, the 4 lane freeway had famous traffic jams. In 1984, a 3rd lane was added to each side, and a year later, it was discovered that there was a subsoil problem under the bridge/freeway, and the new lanes remained closed until the mid-1990s when the state found the money to complete the project. And while the bridge cannot flood, the causeway leading to the crossing at the north end is quite low and has flooded. In 2001, officials had to build temporary dykes, closing a lane on each side of the freeway, to prevent the river from flooding the freeway and making it impassible.

link


Mod edit: fixed link

[edit on 2007/8/1 by Hellmutt]

You can all rest assured the media will certainly with out doubt report that your officials have determined it was not terrorist related within minutes. I got to get cable.