Off topic: Everyone ok after MN bridge collapse?

16 years ago

Are folks that y'all know in the Twin Cities okay?

Kevin - are you and yours okay? Has Kevin posted since 6:00 p.m. CDT last night?

So far, everyone in my life is accounted for and safe. DH and his brother went over the bridge about 2:30 p.m. yesterday. If it hadn't been closed over last weekend and then closed Monday, Tues., and Wed. nights, we would have been on it twice a day since last Saturday, visting family who's in town.

You don't realize how many people you know around town until something like this happens. I'm praying the death count doesn't get any higher but know that's not realistic.

Grateful and concerned, Whitecat8

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Comments (15)

carolinn_on
16 years ago
Yes, and I was thinking about Kevin, too. I hope he's OK. It must be such a shock to the people of that beautiful City. Minnesota is one of the wealthiest States. What went wrong?

We've been there several times, and quite sure we went over that bridge many times.

Carol
cbarry
16 years ago
I emailed Kevin today. He's fine. He also posted on my squirrel/candy thread, so he's around.

Carolyn
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mrbreeze
16 years ago
I saw that Kevin posted on the dark side... and was relieved.

I know this Canadian chick who, when going over a bridge, has to hold her breath, touch a bolt in the car, and raise her feet off the floorboard. I think she learned that at bandcamp. Yes...she is/was quite odd. Bridges are scary.
I really hope they find that some of those cars in the river are empty. :(
-MB
aachenelf z5 Mpls
16 years ago
You guys are so cool. Thanks for the thoughts.

Yup, all OK here. Was out of the city that day. Got home before it happened. Seems to me there are some other MN folk out here we haven't heard from for a while.

Kevin
namnhi2
16 years ago
Hi All,

Am okay too. But I live in Houston TX.

Just wanted to cheers everyone. I guess no one really knows what could happen to us in the next hour so... live your life the way you want to be lived.

NamNhi
garyfla_gw
16 years ago
Hi
Hope everyone is okay !! I missed the collapse of the Sunshine Skyway over Tampa Bay because I had a flat tire.
Really scary in a place with soooo many bridges. gary
tuezday1
16 years ago
Is this not everyones worst nightmare? I mean, how many of us kind of hold our breath going over a bridge, or if we have to stop on a bridge do nothing but fixate on how they shake.

One irony that didn't get past me, is that the kids on the bus, were going on a field trip to go...swimming.
cjwatson
16 years ago
Having grown up with bridges all around me, they don't bother me. But what makes me feel a bit uneasy is that according to safety surveys which are suddenly showing up now for the public to see, there are many bridges in the US which are considered to be in far worse condition than this one and which haven't been repaired either.
whitecat8
Original Author
16 years ago
Good to hear from others right away that you're safe, Kevin. There's at least one other Twin Cities person - a guy - who posts occasionally. I hope he'll weigh in eventually. Bummer that GW e-mail's out of whack.

The scary part is this bridge was thought to be safe until well beyond 2020, when it was scheduled to be replaced.

NamNhi, thanks for the reminder. One of the attorneys' groups here has an ad that says, "We're not just practicing." Right this second is the real thing.

Whitecat8
garyfla_gw
16 years ago
Hi
Hope it does not prove to have been done intentionally
Such as the Oklahoma city bombing or World trade center.
by either home grown or foreign fruitcakes.
i suspect that no amount of engineering could make any structure safe from intentional destruction.
i keep expecting to hear another atrocity visited on the country
Pray that I'm wrong!!! gary
cjwatson
16 years ago
Maybe you missed it, Gary, but they said immediately it was not a 'terrorist' attack.
garyfla_gw
16 years ago
Hi
Heard that but the cause is still unknown. According to the G. the bridge was sound . Personally i never believe a thing I read in the papers particularly when the info comes from the government. gary
cjwatson
16 years ago
The bridge was not 'sound,' but rather listed as 'deficient' for years. But I take what I hear from the govt with a grain of salt also. The bridge was probably in even worse condition than 'deficient' since it did actually fall down. If there was even the slightest possibility that it was the result of 'terrorism,' we would have been hearing 24-hour-a-day news warnings and whinings ever since it happened.

Interestingly, they say 152,945, or 26 percent, of bridges in the US are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to a 2006 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) data. See the link below for more data and definitions of what 'deficient' means in the survey.

Here is a link that might be useful: US Bridge Report
drvinnie
16 years ago
That bridge always gave me the heebie-jeebies. '89-'90 lived about 100 yds from it in that high rise some of the pictures were taken from. I used to bike and run under it on both sides of the river. I remember when a truck was also on the bridge you could feel it in your car. It certainly is a tragedy but somehow I'm just not surprised. Does anyone around there remember the construction of the Lake St bridge?

Vince
cjwatson
16 years ago
I am in a way amused that they are saying it will be rebuilt in only 18 months. It took 3 years to rebuild the I-95 bridge over Pensacola Bay which was knocked out by Hurricane Ivan. It was determined that the bridge was defective as constructed, which was why it came apart during the storm, killing a truck driver who was foolish enough to be driving in the middle of a hurricane

A bit more on the Minneapolis bridge from MSNBC, stating that the bridge was definitely NOT 'sound.'

Declared Âstructurally deficientÂ
The bridge was deemed "structurally deficient" by the federal government as far back as 1990, and inspections over the years had raised alarm, with findings of rust-eaten steel beams, missing bolts and cracks in the welding that held load-bearing parts together.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bridge Article

Off topic: Everyone ok after MN bridge collapse?

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