[G Barnett]

Hope nobody here was on the bridge. I'm still totally wigged out about this mess....

[alligator]

Whoa, I'm in the Twin Cities. Good thing I didn't take that bridge. I work about 1 mile from there, I was just on my way home heading North, not South on that road when that happened. I was literally a few seconds away from that bridge when it must have fallen!!!

Here's the link: wcco.com - I-35W Bridge Collapses Into Mississippi River

[seanc]

Whoa. So does anyone know how this happened? Storms or just a weak point in the bridge?

I thought this was going to be about identical twins

[goMac]

Originally Posted by seanc 

Whoa. So does anyone know how this happened? Storms or just a weak point in the bridge?

I thought this was going to be about identical twins

Someone over at Digg said they have been removing portions of the spans and welding new portions in during the life of this bridge, and today they were supposedly doing some sort of pile driving in the bridge.

Any engineer should know that removing sections of the steel and re-welding in new sections is not usually a good idea. Especially not replacing entire sections of bridge like that.

[Rumor]

There was supposedly a safety report done last year stating that some of the support pillars were cracked.

[seanc]

You would have thought they'd close the bridge first, unless it's the only route to and from somewhere.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by seanc 

You would have thought they'd close the bridge first, unless it's the only route to and from somewhere.

Bridges stay open all the time during construction. In Portland they do work on bridges pretty often, and here in Seattle they'll do construction on our floating bridges every so often, and in both cases they're always usually kept open.

Heck, at the Tacoma narrows they've been building a second bridge yards away and that bridge has been left open.

[alligator]

This is one of the main roads used to go from the northern suburbs into Minneapolis. My neighbor across the street was going to a Minnesota Twins game, and probably on that road when it was shut down after the collapse. The phones are nuts here, nobody can call out or in.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Heck, at the Tacoma narrows they've been building a second bridge yards away and that bridge has been left open.

I didn't know they were building a new bridge until I crossed the Narrows last November.

[EricTheRed]

Originally Posted by G Barnett 

Hope nobody here was on the bridge. I'm still totally wigged out about this mess....

I work out of the house and my family that cross that bridge are all okay.

[awaspaas]

We use that bridge all the time - all fine here.

[nredman]

I have used that bridge before - i was actually going to go to the twins game tonight but decided not to. i usually go into downtown on 94.

crazy stuff

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

I didn't know they were building a new bridge until I crossed the Narrows last November.

I pass by it all the time on the train between Portland and Seattle (I've been taking the train between the two cities for about 3 years). It will be sad once it's done. I enjoyed seeing it during it's construction.

Press conference starting. I hope we learn more.

Edit: I think they just said 16 dead.
Edit2: 6 dead. Not quite as bad as I thought I heard.

[dillerX]

Originally Posted by nredman 

I have used that bridge before - i was actually going to go to the twins game tonight but decided not to. i usually go into downtown on 94.

crazy stuff

Was wondering about you. Good to hear you are OK.

[dawho9]

My best friend just got back from his honeymoon today and were going home to her apartment and had just taken the Washington exit when it went down. So crazy.

dw9

[macintologist]

Oh man those bureacrats are having a melt down now. The blame is going to be thrown around and heads will roll.

[Timo]

Been over that bridge many, many times. Crazy.

CNN had an engineer from the U on, who was frankly puzzled at how this could have collapsed in this manner. Usually, bridge failures are progressive, but this one appears total.

Crazy. Crazy.

[CaseCom]

Yo.

I was eating dinner less than a mile away (Pizza Nea on E. Hennepin Ave.) when our waiter told us not to take I-35W because the bridge had collapsed. I work evening hours at a job in downtown Minneapolis and had a helluva time getting back to work.

As I was crossing the river at a snail's pace to get back downtown, I looked downriver and saw the 10th Avenue bridge. The 35W bridge should have been right in front of it, but it just ... wasn't there. You could see some smoke; it was about 6:45 and they were still putting out the fires.

The Twins game tomorrow is canceled. They were smart to play the game tonight; the streets were bad enough without dumping another few thousand cars onto the grid.

Looks like now they're saying seven dead, but there's still about 20 people missing, and I bet most of them end up dead.

CNN is pissing me off tonight. They keep mistaking the 10th Avenue bridge (the arched bridge right next to the collapsed one) for northbound 35W, and they keep saying the bridge connects Mpls. and St. Paul (it's actually entirely in Minneapolis). Damned media

I often take the 10th Avenue bridge into work. I wonder if it'll even be open tomorrow.

[♥]

My condolences to anyone affected by this tragedy. I certainly hope that all MacNN members are safe.

The road infrastructure in some parts of this country is extremely old and fragile, crumbling, especially down here in the Southeast. I hope that other areas of the country sit up and take notice.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

I didn't know they were building a new bridge until I crossed the Narrows last November.

It's open now. It's cool.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by CaseCom 

CNN is pissing me off tonight. They keep mistaking the 10th Avenue bridge (the arched bridge right next to the collapsed one) for northbound 35W, and they keep saying the bridge connects Mpls. and St. Paul (it's actually entirely in Minneapolis). Damned media

I know what you mean. They spent a lot of money on some kind of swoop down google earth graphic, but then labled the state "Minneapolis" and kept up with the idea (romantic, but inaccurate) that the river here divides Mpls from St Paul.

BBC was also talking about "The Governor of Minneapolis." You think these people could get out an atlas for five minutes.

Glad to hear you're OK, Case.

[nonhuman]

One of my best friends (who's currently pregnant with my goddaughter) drove across that bridge just hours before this happened. Fortunately she's home safely now, as is my friend who biked under it every single day on his way to/from work.

[Timo]

Jesus.

I guess with 140,000 cars a day above, there are a lot of stories like this.

[♥]

Do they know yet WHY the darned thing collapsed? Or is it just 40 years old and it just had too much stress?

[wallinbl]

Apparently, some of the roads around here (Tampa area) were clogged because drivers were trying to avoid bridges.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

Apparently, some of the roads around here (Tampa area) were clogged because drivers were trying to avoid bridges.

Yeah, that's a real long-term strategy

-t