http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.h...231b1be&k=0

Better news link with video... http://wcco.com/

Bridge on I35 W collapses just at the end of rush hour. 7 dead, 20 missing and 60 injuried

I've driven over this bridge............

I have driven over that bridge many many times... The death toll will go much higher. I have a friend who is a Homeland Security trained diver who is heading out tomorrow morning at 0500 to confirm what is already suspected, structural failure....

soooo weird.
most images don't convey the size and the importance of this span. there aren't easy options for traffic, and i'm sure the cedar ave bridge (just to the east) wasn't designed to handle much of the load... headaches coming!

how long does it take to commission, design and rebuild a 1900 ft. bridge over water?

I was here 10 minutes after it happened. Was on my way to the Town Hall brewery on 7 corners. Traffic was bad because of the Twins game so I took Washington ave instead of 35, my turn off would of been just before the bridge, I turned around at the green dot, emergency vehicles were flying by me in all directions...

The river is really swift in this area which will make it tough for the divers recovery efforts.

infrastructure problems are becoming more frequent as these structures age. The bridge that collapsed in Quebec was regularly inspected, but not competently; all the signs were there but not recognized early enough. Incorrect materials were used in Boston.

Rebuilding will be a big problem.

...the investigation of this tragedy might take a year...design/build could be 4-5 years.

security cameras

I'm here and fine - that is the bridge I take to/from work. Fortunately I worked from home yesterday.

From CNN: Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory database said the bridge was "structurally deficient." The Minneapolis Star Tribune quoted Jeanne Aamodt, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, as saying the department was aware of the 2005 assessment of the bridge. The bridge received a rating of 4 on a scale of 0 to 9. A bridge receives a rating of 4 when there is "advanced section loss, deterioration."

http://nationalbridges.com/

Makes you want to check the database to see if the bridge you cross is in such poor condition. Can you hear the litigation lawyers rubbing their hands in anticipation of big payouts?

It always takes something like this to make lazy-ass Americans with zero work ethic to do their job right!.... You see this in aviation all the time. There's a problem that's ignored until it costs 300 lives. Then all kinds of emergency maintenance procedures are implemented and strictly followed.... for a while. Then some time passes, the shock of the incident wears off, and it gets to the point that the new procedures are followed only when the FAA inspector is standing right next to the workers. Then it happens all over again.
Mark D.
P.S. R.I.P. folks.

Me and Chappy talked this morning. I checked on Bill also. We have more guys down there.

I traveled across that bridge no less than 10 times last week.

I work downtown about 5 minutes from the (ex) bridge. We had several co-workers that were on the brigde when it went down and one is still in the hospital.

Too close to home!