Took me awhile to get a hold of them, especialy my aunt, who heads that way to work at the Metrodome, around that time. You should've heard the comments on the CB at the time it when down. At first I thought it was a joke, till the sirens. All I heard on the CB was "holly @#$% the bridge is gone, what the @#$% and lots of other terms of shock and terror. The many times I drove that bridge or biked under it, when I grew up in the cities, never thought that would happen. As for that semi with a penquin on it, it was a bakery truck "Taystee Bread" And so far 7 dead and now it's a recovery effort.
I got up this AM and now there are 9 dead so far. This is a disaster for sure, I have been across that bridge countless times. What makes me wonder is the FBI said it wasn't terrorist related without even taking the time to find out? Um, What? 8-lane bridges, like that, don't just go oops and fall down. This doesn't make any sense. I would find out WHO was working on that bridge (sabotage?) and ask questions before I would say it wasn't a terrorist action. But, who am I, certainly not the FBI.
that is a sad thing and i pray for all that where on it and there familys . i hope there find out what happens .
Glad you weren't on it Dragon! I know nothing at all about science etc, but have wondered for the past couple of years if the weather changes all over are somehow unsettling the foundations of bridges, roads etc. Seems like it would have to move things around with all the added moisture and temp changes.......
I believe that this incident may be the tip of the iceberg as far as our aging highway infrastructure! Many of the bridges along north I-5 (CA, Or,and to Seattle) are/or have been rebuilt to handle the heavier traffic as our city populations build up for this generation. Plus construction materials theses days are much improved over those used just 40 years ago. Guess we will see this one on Engineering Disasters in the future---sounds like no secondary supports may have contributed. EDITORS NOTE: Just heard on TV that 80,000 bridges across the U.S. received 'Failing' scores when looked at last!
Wow, the fatality number got up to 9, and has now dropped back down to 4. Misinformation has to be expected in a disaster like this though. I just pray that at this point, the death total doesn't go any higher. When I first heard about this, they reported a school bus full of kids was on the bridge, which just made me feel ill as soon as I heard it. Found out a couple hours later that all the kids were ok.
WCCO has footage from CNN of the collapse, while it was happening http://wcco.com/video/[email protected]
