Major bridge collapse

[djconklin]

in my neck of the woods: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_us/minnesota_bridge_collapse

The steel beams look like matchsticks!

So far (at 9pm CST) 6 dead.

 

[StormyOne]

I was reading about that.... unbelievable.... bridges collapsing have to be up there in terms of motorists worst fears....

 

[honorthesabbath]

Oh my gosh conk--I saw that a while ago on the news! Tragic and horrifying. Those poor people.

You know-when we were in DAlls on that big clover leaf road--the one where there are like 4 levels of higway stacked on top of each other. I told my husband that it made me very nervous to be on the darn thing.I said--what if this thing collapses. He laughed at me-------he's not laughing now.

 

[IntoTheCrimsonSky]

I just read about this, too. It's awful. Prayers with the families and survivors.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

i've been on the bridge. it is a great expanse. I had a thought when I was crossing it that it would suck if it fell down. Wow it did.

 

[honorthesabbath]

DJ--while I was watching the video from your link-my heart stopped when I saw that there were cars and pedestrians on another bridge over looking the disaster. I thought--OH MY GOSH--get off there.

Then the camera panned wide and I saw that the bridge had arches, and then I didn't worry so much. The arch is the strongest base known. This is why so many ancient structures are still standing today. The Romans made heavy use of them.

 

[jelvenko]

There's 7 dead now... There was a school bus full of kids that had just got across when it happened. Praise God that it wasn't in the middle of the bridge.... Out of the 60 kids on the bus, 10 had to go to the hospital, but as far as I know it's nothing majorly serious......

 

[djconklin]

four confirmed dead; as many as 30 missing. Because the Twin Cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis and surropunding suburbs) are split by the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers we have at least 5 dozen bridges around here. The bad news is that our bridges are rated among the top ten as the worst in the nation--Rhode Island is on top, then states like New York and Pennsylvania.

 

[Riddick]

Oh my gosh conk--I saw that a while ago on the news! Tragic and horrifying. Those poor people.

You know-when we were in DAlls on that big clover leaf road--the one where there are like 4 levels of higway stacked on top of each other. I told my husband that it made me very nervous to be on the darn thing.I said--what if this thing collapses. He laughed at me-------he's not laughing now.

that would be true each time you ride a jet aircraft to your destination, no?

 

[djconklin]

Maybe especially when you consider that the maintenance work is being outsourced overseas. End up with a plane like the one they had in Brazil where the maintenance people had disconnected(?) the reverse thrusters while they worked on the plane and then "forgot" to turn them back on! Then there's the pilots from a ceratin Eastern Eruopean country who when they come in for a landing they smack the plane down onto the runway!

 

[djconklin]

Now it turns out they "knew" back in 1990 that the bridge was "structurally deficient": http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_us/bridge_collapse;_ylt=Akc5Kxl17piUTUSOjamygxes0NUE

"In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its bearings. The bridge is one of 77,000 bridges in that category nationwide, 1,160 in Minnesota alone."

 

[TrustAndObey]

They just put a new bridge on a highway I take every day on my way to college. While they were constructing it, traffic would get stopped on the old bridge they were replacing. Sometimes for more than 20 minutes at a time.

I was stuck on the old bridge one day and my youngest son yelled out the window to one of the guys (standing right beside the old bridge, but on the new bridge) and said something a 4-year-old would say like "I like your hat".

The guy leaned over and said thanks and something cute. And I asked him why they were putting the new bridge in, was it just to expand the lanes or what?

I'm not kidding that he said "no, that bridge is almost 75-years-old and it could go at any minute".

Keep in mind I was ON the old bridge when he said it!

I was on that bridge probably 10 more minutes and it was the longest 10 minutes of my life!

 

[honorthesabbath]

Maybe especially when you consider that the maintenance work is being outsourced overseas. End up with a plane like the one they had in Brazil where the maintenance people had disconnected(?) the reverse thrusters while they worked on the plane and then "forgot" to turn them back on! Then there's the pilots from a ceratin Eastern Eruopean country who when they come in for a landing they smack the plane down onto the runway!

This is precisely why I don't fly anymore. I always hated flying, but now I am terrified of it.

Nope--no more 'aropwain wides for Winda'!!

 

[djconklin]

20 major bridges in need of repair:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/20-heavily-traf.html

20 Most Deficient, Heavily-Trafficked Bridges:
20.2%. New Jersey: Raritan River Smith St. Bridge over the Garden State Parkway. Daily commuter load of 208,000.
23.6%. New Jersey: Elizabeth River Bridge over the Garden State Parkway. Daily commuter load of 198,200.
27.2%. New Jersey: Port Reading Bridge over Grove Avenue. Daily commuter load of 191,530.
32%. New York: Lee Avenue Bridge (Section A) over Route I-278. Daily commuter load of 202,650.
32.1%. California: San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Ala-Oak) over I-80. Daily commuter load of 277,700.
32.1%. Hawaii: Kapalama Canal over Halona Street. Daily commuter load of 211,528.
34%. New York: Joralemon Street Bridge over Route I-278. Daily commuter load of 202,650.
35%. Illinois: Stewart Avenue Bridge over I-90. Daily commuter load of 238,500.
36%. Colorado: South Platte River Bridge over I-25ML. Daily commuter load of 208,353.
42.5%. Virginia: Boundary Channel Bridge over Shirley Memorial Highway. Daily commuter load of 210,993.
46.3%. Georgia: Banberry Road Bridge over I-75. Daily commuter load of 266,060.
46.3%. California: San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (SF section) over I-80. Daily commuter load of 204,900.
46.3%. New Jersey: Elizabeth River Bridge over Garden State Parkway. Daily commuter load of 198,200.
47%. California: 5th Avenue Bridge over I-880. Daily commuter load of 240,000.
48%. California: Noakes Street Bridge over I-710. Daily commuter load of 240,000.
49%.New Jersey: Route-21 Bridge over I-280. Daily commuter load of 518,100.
49%. California: Bayshore Viaduct over Rte 101. Daily commuter load of 256,700.
49%. New York: Lee Avenue Bridge (Section C) over I-278. Daily commuter load of 202,650.
49%. Massachusetts: Cape Cod Canal over Route 28. Daily commuter load of 195,000.
50%. California: Metrolink over I-710. Daily commuter load of 235,440.

---

When I was going to school in Berrien Springs my lady friend and I would walk her dogs down by the river and we'd cross under a bridge where there were concrete pieces falling down from the underside of the bridge which was built (get this) with wooden beams!

 

[djconklin]

They found two more bodies today and as usual the "cockroaches" came out of the wordwork to try and take advantge of others: http://www.twincities.com/ci_6583333?source=rss

 

[freeindeed2]

in my neck of the woods: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_us/minnesota_bridge_collapse

The steel beams look like matchsticks!

So far (at 9pm CST) 6 dead.

A friend of mine lost his good friend in that collapse. His friends name was Pat Holmes and he leaves behind his wife and two kids. I also learned that his wife's father unexpectedly died only two months ago. If you wouldn't mind, would you pray for that family?

 

[djconklin]

A friend of mine lost his good friend in that collapse. His friends name was Pat Holmes and he leaves behind his wife and two kids. I also learned that his wife's father unexpectedly died only two months ago. If you wouldn't mind, would you pray for that family?

There seems to be some sort of mixup.

"The eight people reported missing and feared dead in the bridge collapse have been identified as Christine Sacorafas, 45, of White Bear Lake; Vera Peck, 50, and her son Richard Chit, 20, both of Bloomington; Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora; Peter Hausmann, 47, of Rosemount; Sadiya Sahal, 23, of St. Paul, and her 2-year-old daughter, Hanah; and Scott Sathers, 29, of Maple Grove." from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20199544/

I found him!

The known dead as of 8/07 were:


Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis
Sherry Engebretsen, 60, of Shoreview
Patrick Holmes, 36, of Mounds View
Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage Paul Eickstadt, 51, of Mounds View

I couldn't remember a "Pat"--one of my aunts' name!

 

[TrustAndObey]

DJ, that's the list of people still missing.

The list of those killed included Pat Holmes.

Free, I will definitely send up some prayers for that family!

 

[TrustAndObey]

Ah, I see you found him.

What a tragedy. 36 years old.

 

[djconklin]

Yep, way too young to die--worse yet is they still haven't found the bodies of the mother and her baby.