MN bridge collapse

[427king]

Anyone in MN know what happened??

[Fhakya]

Most likely to be just an engineering defect/failure..absolutely amazing that there weren't more fatalities.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/

I drove over that one 2 weeks ago while heading to the CC nats.

[J_D]

Terrible tragedy. Hopefully no one here was affected by this horrible event. Our thoughts and prayers should be with those who were involved in one way or another with this tragedy. This morning on the news, there is still 20 people still unaccounted for.

[Chateau Slate 66]

That "20" is also just an estimate. They are using that number as just a guess due to the number of cars that were on the bridge at the time. Hopefully, the number is not much higher.

I assume that many of you saw the footage of the school bus carrying 60 kids that didn't go in the water. Supposedly, no one was seriously hurt on that bus. What a miracle.

For those that do not know, 35W is a major road in this area. The first estimate that I heard was 1-2 years to rebuild this bridge. This is going to be a big problem for a long time.

[69hurstSC]

i have heard estimates of between 2 dozen to 50 cars in the water. There are 3 "sister" bridges to this one. St Cloud has one of them as does Pipestone and another on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border. There was an interview on the radio with a guy who was on his motorcycle when it fell and to hear his story gave me chills.

[Musclecarkid]

Anybody heard from Rick N. or Chad?

[BBIGG BLOCK 396]

It is sad that the Bridge collapsed but I think that structures like that are just taken for granted over the years and not repaired or replaced as promptly as they should be.I also don't think these older bridges were designed for BUMPER TO BUMPER TRAFFIC like we have now days!The bumper to bumper traffic seems to come much later in years when the population in the surrounding areas grows by leaps and bounds.And by then the weakening of the Bridges from daily use from years of service and added weight in paving repairs etc over time and then the BUMPER TO BUMPER TRAFFIC WEIGHT is just too much for these OLD BRIDGES to handle. Of course this is just my opinion.I will say this that If I have to get in that kind of traffic and go over an older bridge I would have some CONCERNS FOR SAFETY for myself and others about crossing those bridges!!My Prayers surely go out to all those affected by this terrible disaster in Minnesota.

[71-LS6]

For years, some states have been "diverting" gas & diesel tax revenues from their intended use i.e. MAINTENANCE & REPAIR of roads and bridges. Instead the funds collected at the pump have gone into the state's general fund, and then on to who knows where. I do not know if MN. did this, but this tragic situation should also serve as a wake-up call to legislators who routinely squander tax dollars for purposes other than they were originally intended. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

[Chateau Slate 66]

We recently passed a law stating that the money collected from gas tax is required to go to transportation. The problem is that it is also required that a MINIMUM of 60% be used for mass transit (light rail, buses, etc.) and a MAXIMUM of 40% be used for road repair.

Overall, Minnesota is a wealthy state with a large tax base. I don't think there is any other state in the union that is better at squandering its tax money.