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

Apparently, the bridge was reported to have had infrastructure issues ever since 2001. I don't know where they were or what they were doing to fix it, but, it wasn't enough.

Hopefully they'll check their bridges more often now.

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Since this is ATS I'll be the first to ask.

Have there been any UFO and flying humanoid sightings there? Aka Mothmen?

Something about this reminds me of John Keel's Mothman Prophecies.

[edit on 1/8/07 by MikeboydUS]

That was one thing I wondered about too. I am so sorry and saddened for the people there and my heart just goes out to them. I hear there are several that are still missing.

The thing that makes me wonder about all this... I don't know if anyone else saw this, but on *Tuesday* in California, I believe it was, there were reports on CNN on a bridge project (I don't know if it was already a completely built bridge or one they were in the process of building, I think it was the latter) and it came down also, several injuries and one pretty bad, it was a Fed-ex truck that was terribly smashed and they were trying to get the driver out of the truck. So that was Tuesday in one state, a bridge-related accident, and now Wednesday another state, another bridge-related accident. Isn't that just a little strange? I don't think I've even heard of *any* major bridge accidents in recent times, major enough for CNN coverage anyway... and suddenly there are two in a row, even in the same week? Very odd, and maybe just coincidence, but I think it's just plain strange. Especially when you figure in that we have had food recalls for major stuff *every month* since January.

S

[edit on 8/2/2007 by Sunalei]

Part of the reason the bridge collapsed was due to the design itself. 1 big long arch vs several archs. If 1 section fails on a bridge due to structual failure, the rest "for the most part" stay intact. This bridge was designed and built using 1 big arch of now obsolete design and not ever meant to hold the amount of traffic and weight it does / did at the time of the failure.

It was a late night here last night, and I'm still in a bit of shock. This bridge was a corner stone of Minneapolis for our transportation system and a main artery, and will not be replaced for at least 3 years. Unfortunatly by then, that bridge wont be big enough to handle the traffic at that time. It seems (as I grew up and still today) that when they finish a road project here, it's obsolete because it's not big enough, and then the MnDOT wants to raise taxes to make our roads bigger.

Minnesota, the Twin Cities area, and the land of 10,000 lakes is a great place to visit and live. It's the State government that seems to lack so much, regardless of who's in our state office at the time. Maybe now I'm going from shock to anger of our state leaders.

The nice thing is that it appears the death toll has now gone down. Also, there is now video that shows the collapse, so anyone claiming anything but structual failure needs to recheck them selves. When you watch the video, it clearly shows only 1 small section failed and then the domino affect kicked in.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Here's the video I captured from CNN earlier this morning. It shows the CCTV footage of the collapse, plus has some statements in it that could be conspiracy theory fodder!

Thanks for posting the video, very informative.

Bless their hearts - this is so terrible!

[edit on 8/2/2007 by Sunalei]

Well, got up late this morning and first thing I did was turn on the tv. I am just certain we need to take a fedral review of all the major bridge structures in America. This kind of catastrophy does not need to be in vain. I send my love and blessings to the people and families involved in this terrible accident.

If we leave Iraq and divert the funds to re-building aging infrastructure,
there wouldn't be a need for the huge tax increases that experts say are
needed. There would be a lot of inconveniences for motorists during such
a massive national project, but safety is priority #1. I wonder if one
tragedy like this is enough to get the movement started?

It seems there may be a full scale cover up under way regarding this bridge and it's reported condition. See link below discussing the disappearing internet reports on the bridge safety issues.

www.countryplans.com.../0#8

Looks like a denial of liability issue with people at the top scrambling to blame it on anything and anyone but themselves.

Originally posted by carewemust
If we leave Iraq and divert the funds to re-building aging infrastructure,

A sound idea until you realize that pulling out of Iraq now, leaving them with no military will ensure that Iran takes over that part of the world. The irony would be that we would have fantastic bridges but not much oil to power the cars to drive across the bridges. But then by removing the cars from the roads would mean that we didn't need to fix the bridges after all. What to do with all that extra money?

Plasma televisions for everyone!

I don't think we need to be in Iraq to keep Iran (and anyone else) at bay.
We can just tell them that they'll lose a city if they invade. A couple of
targeted missles from the USA mainland can do that. But this is for
another thread. Back to the Minnesota Bridge disucussion...

[edit on 2-8-2007 by carewemust]

isnt there another recent thread about someone warning of major terrorist attacks in the next 60 or 90 days or something to that?? I agree, 2 bridges in 2 days is scary and fishy!!

I think there are threads detailing imminent threats and predictions by current and former government officials / intel agents every week, usually as part of a book drive. Thus, we can usually ignore the threats they warn us of and get on with our lives

With the seemingly concerted effort to remove damning structural reports concerning this bridge from websites by persons unknown, I think it's safe to say this was an accident waiting to happen rather than some terrorist event.
Of course, pushing the terrorist angle may be used to try and get some people off the hook for ignoring calls for major repairs to the bridge

Ahhh. It could be structural fatigue, but it seems really unusual.

Look at the timing.
Rush Hour
Current State of the World
Very large bridge

It's odd that this Bridge would completely collapse like this.

10 years ago there was an earthquake in California, and a bridge "Partially" collapsed...

If there was no earthquake, how does this "sound" bridge collapse, without some sort of catalyst?

O.K. Actually all the bridges that have collapsed in the past have been due to some natural event.

I.E.
Flooding
Wind
Earthquake

No one bridge except for "Galloping Gerdy" has collapsed due to poor design... We know why "Galloping Gerdy" collapsed, it was built in 1938 and was an early design. As far as can be told that was the last man made failure.

[edit on 8/2/2007 by Brainiac]

Originally posted by Cosmocow
isnt there another recent thread about someone warning of major terrorist attacks in the next 60 or 90 days or something to that?? I agree, 2 bridges in 2 days is scary and fishy!!

That report was released in 2005. Far over the 90 days.

i have traveled many times over this span. terrorist caused possible. construction accident by resurfacing probably not. but it said a train was passing under at the time of the accident here is my theory one of the cars either somehowhit part of the bridge or the vibrations of the train caused the collapse.

Again, I'd like to state that if you have seen the video of the bridge collapse, and are familier with this bridge design, and have seen the inspection reports on this bridge from 2001 and 2006, you would know (1) It's not remotely terror related, and (2) Due to the bridge design, the entire bridge collapsed after 1 section failed creating a domino affect bringing the rest of the bridge down.

Also, there were no structual repairs going on with this bridge, only resurfaceing. Anyways, here is a link to the 2001 Mn/Dot Bridge Inspection Report This is an 89 page report dealing with this bridge itself.

As for the 2006 Bridge report, I am still trying to find it. Our local ABC news was able to get a copy which stated several hair-line cracks directly underneath the concrete slaps that structually hold the slap itself up. If / when I can find it, I'll post the link.

Also, agree with the above poster that the vibration from the train could have played a part in this, mixed with the resurfaceing project, the stress on the steal, and the weight of the vehicles at stand still in bumper-to-bumper traffic. People heard a loud rumble, comparing it to a freight train right before the collapse. Now factor in the heat we've had this summer, mixed with winter cold, and also how the temps changed by 20 degrees in just 3 hours last week all played some sort of role. I personally think they may never find a cause, or for at least many years...

Remember, this bridge was built in the mid 60's, opened in the late 60's, and never meant to carry the amount of traffic it did or the increased weight of commercial vehicles.

[edit on 2-8-2007 by Spoontoad]

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

Definetly a harrowing experience plummeting 10+ meters into a river.

I wonder if you could tell me what the other bridge is, and why they built two bridges alongside each other. Is it a railway bridge?

Thanks

That is the 10th Street Bridge. It was opened in 1929. As for why they changed the support system from that to the I-35W suport system is beyond me. 10th Street Bridge Info This bridge is used for neighborhood traffic, traffic coming into that neighborhood (Dinky Town), and general purpose foot / pedestrian traffic. This is a really nice neighborhood and that bridge is historic to us locals.

Also, with regards to the link I just posted in my previous post, the report states that there is an average of 15,000 people a day who use that bridge. Last year, the 2006 report showed 140,000 people average travel that bridge.

[edit on 2-8-2007 by Spoontoad]

Originally posted by Spoontoad
Again, I'd like to state that if you have seen the video of the bridge collapse, and are familier with this bridge design, and have seen the inspection reports on this bridge from 2001 and 2006, you would know (1) It's not remotely terror related, and (2) Due to the bridge design, the entire bridge collapsed after 1 section failed creating a domino affect bringing the rest of the bridge down.


[edit on 2-8-2007 by Spoontoad]

I am familiar with this particular bridge and I completely agree. It was old, and although I'm not engineer for what its worth I can say that the bridge LOOKED like it was old and insufficient to hold up that much weight. I appreciate all the informed and intelligent responses that for the most part have been showing up in this thread. It seems as if the flow of the conversation went from "must have been terrorism!!!" or "It was the government!!!11" to some real intelligent detective work using what solid information is available so far. The fact is that terrorism is an extremely unlikely possibility at this point. More than likely this was just a horrible accident caused by poor inspections or upkeep- my heart goes out to those killed and injured. Lets hope that the number of dead doesn't get any higher.

Please accept my apologies for being a little off-topic here but I just wanted to mention that I found this information on page 7 this morning of the Las Vegas Review Journal after 6 pages of bridge collapse information:

The largest Sunni Arab block quit the government leaving 2 Sunnis in the 40 member body undermining Maliki’s efforts to pull together rival factions and pass reconciliation laws that the US considers benchmarks that could lead to sectarian reconciliation.

A suicide attacker blew up his fuel tanker in Baghdad in one of several attacks that killed 142 nationwide yesterday.

4 more US soldiers were killed including 3 in Baghdad by an armor piercing bomb.

The US military found a mass grave in Diyala northeast of Baghdad containing 17 bodies of Sunni Muslims including women, children and elderly people.

70 of the 142 killed were killed nationwide were in three separate bombings in Baghdad.

Wednesday’s violence came after July ended as the second deadliest month for Iraquis this year.

Back to the Bridge collapse.

Originally posted by andyzero1234
It seems as if the flow of the conversation went from "must have been terrorism!!!" or "It was the government!!!11" to some real intelligent detective work using what solid information is available so far.

Just for the record, it's wrong to separate the two, they're one in the same.

As far as the bridge goes, I'm reserving further judgement for awhile until I see what comes of this on a national level. That's when you'll know if it was just an accident or something intentional.

And whether they were just resurfacing the road or whatever is not really relevant. The relevant thing is that anybody could have done anything to that bridge and it would have been attributed to the resurfacing. Nobody would give them a second look.

Peace