just got back ym wife and I were only couple of blocks away. Goddamn that is one of the most f'd up things i have ever seen in person.
The 35w bridge looks like cardboard... i never seen it like that before... were all lucky its made it this long...
Friend of mine living outside London emailed me a while ago asking about it. Apparently there was a blurb about it on the BBC. His immediate family lives in the Twin Cities but fortunately he said they were all accounted for. I feel helpless being just this far away but I can't imagine how helpless he's feeling. For how tragic this is I'm hoping the death toll doesn't go up much higher than it is now when I wake up tomorrow morning. Isn't it strange that for how few people were involved in this disaster that you may still have loved ones or friends involved? It makes the distance feel so much smaller
That was my impression when I looked at that angle too, it looked much more massive when driving over it. Yeah,, I think of all the times I've sat in traffic jams on that bridge, even today I was on the bridge just 5 or 10 minutes before it happened... the thought of it collapsing never crossed my mind.
the beginning of the bridge, to presents and now http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfo...=46&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1 news is everywhere in the world.....breaking news in Deutschland as well
yeah just got done talking with some friends in germany and ireland and they asked if i was OK caus they heard about it. crazy! i hope to god everyone in MNdot gets grilled over this, they are so concerned about the other worthless crap involving roads but they just happen to overlook some shotty old POS bridge? well now there are lives lost, thats messed up.
yeah Kare11 said 6 confirmed dead, and they said the Bus was filled with 60 kids and only 10 got hurt
Breaking news all over the world. About two hours after it occured I got a call from my father-in-law from Korea asking if I was alright. I don't take that bridge to school... I get off on Washington Avenue and come from the south. My thoughts and prayers to the families involved.
its 10:20 and I have only heard htem say 6 dead... but what about all the other cars that they havent found at the bottom of the river... if it was that busy and with the twins game tonight there should have been a couple of hundred cars on there... very tragic...
I think the one footing that sits on the edge of the river gave way and dominoed the rest... with a bridge with 1 spanning support what else would happen... keep the prayers going...
Wow I get off work at 6:00 in south Minneapolis and take 35w north across that bridge every day, thankfully today I worked late to finish a few things. Just a horrible situation.
and you just told Ray in another thread that hotlinking to other forums was a NO NO... ha ha heard 7 dead.....?? I am still amazed it isnt more.... lets hope it stays that way with over 140,000 cars a day...
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and with the Rescue crews working. I'm actually standing by at the station, odds are we may get cycled in at some point. I've heard from a couple of friends of mine on scene with different departments that it's unreal down there. Latest update is 8 dead, I have a feeling it's going to be worse than that
Brian how do you get involved on your level with the Firies.... I am interested to be able to be called and actually allowed to help in situations like this when needed....
At this point, I imagine we'd get rotated in to help with the recovery effort and to spell firefighters who've been on scene and need to rotate out. The worst of it has passed at this point, all of the people who can be helped have been helped and now it's shifted to a recovery mode. As far as applying to be a firefighter, check your city website and see if they have openings, most departments collect applications year round and are always looking for people who can respond during the day.
Prayers to all of them and those who love them. May they recover fully and look back at it and be proud of what they have survived. This local incident surprisingly made world news. Anyone able to get their car into the videos and pictures? Would've been strangely awesome.
First, my thoughts and prayers are with all the family and friends of the victims. That being said, I am very glad to be able to type this message. I crossed the bridge exactly 15 minutes before the collapse. I know 15 minutes is a huge margin in this type of issue but I am still plenty freaked out. Glad to be here, Mark Utecht
seeing it in person was truly one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had. It hits everyone personally because every single person in the cities goes over that bridge all the time, so it feels so plausible it could be you or anyone else you know on there. It looked like a war happened there when I was down there. One of my neighbors barely escaped being crushed by the falling bridge while driving down west river road, the bridge literally fell on the road right in front of him
thats the first thing that came to mind when i saw the pics too was old photos of WWII destruction and then seeing it in person, it really is tragic, glad you are all ok tho, hope no one knew someone seriously injured or killed
We are also glad you are still here! Sounds like Joel experienced pretty much the same thing, 10 to 15 minutes before. Thank god and keep praying for the families. Alot of prayers are needed this evening.
i dont think anyone does... i drove it last weekend while i was down... but is everyone on here accounted for?
me and my girlfriend were on our way back home via 394 going in separate cars. we both had the option of taking 94E to 35W or 94W and getting off at dowling and taking. the parkway. Luckily we both chose the right choice as that was minutes before the collapse.
no kidding, and as you cross them you look over at the shotty, old, grafiti covered stone and brick bridges for the trains and stuff, all the old suspension bridges and truss bridges... it really makes you think about what they go thru and what they can really deal with, makes me worry, i think there should be some tighter inspection and closer eyes on this kind of stuff caus it impacts so many people everyday, rather than repainting the stupid lines on the road.
I wonder if the de-icer system had something to do with this. I'm sure we'll all find out after the full investigation is done. We'll watch it on "Seconds from Disaster," on Discovery.
I was working at Spoonriver by the Guthrie while it happened so I saw and heard all the squads, ambulance, tow trucks, feds, fire trucks, tow trucks, dive team trailer, news vans, and sheriff RV go by. Tons of people were around also since you could see the smoke from there. Very creepy and surreal
About 20 years ago I worked for the city of St. Paul Public Works. I recall talking with a bridge engineer once and mentioning how uncomfortable it felt to be stopped on a bridge and feeling the bouncing (regarding the Wabasha St bridge, which was in the process of crumbling away back then). He said essentially "the bouncing is good, it means the bridge is working right, if it ever doesn't bounce, you want to get the hell off of it" The thing is, for all this happened just a couple miles away (if you go ~500 or so ft from my house you're in the middle of northbound 35W), it just doesn't feel real to me yet. 9/11 felt more real to me at the time than this does. I think it's just the familiarity of that brige and my mind just telling me it can't really have happened. I'm sure the first time I see it with my own eyes it'll be a whole different matter.
You would feel the bouncing on a smaller brigde. On a large one - not really, unless its made of small independent sections. I bet there is a video of a collapse from traffic cameras, that could help figure out what went wrong. I wouldn't think its the design or anti-icing system though.
I drive under the bridge to work twice daily on west river road. I was under it at 5:15 today. It is going to be chilling to see it up close. I am blown away. I actually thought to myself, several times. I wonder who figured out that it was safe to do the repairs to the bridge and it would handle the stresses as I heard the rumble from the jack hammers when I drove past the last couple weeks.
Jack hummering the surface wouldn't do much by itself, unless those are syncronized and somehow coincide with bridges resonance frequency... Or if someone unknowingly hammers away some key part of bridge's structure.
Out of all the bridges I expected to see go, this one was not on my list. I expected the 52 S bridge (exit off 94) in st paul to have collapsed by now.
Its a guess, but I'm thinking there was something going on that was not visually noticable. Cracks can propogate for a long time before they can be seen by the human eye.
was watching the news coverage and the footage are insane! btw, did anyone else see the under cover legacy outback squad car?
