US News
Collapsed US bridge had problems, governor says (Roundup)
Aug 2, 2007, 16:03 GMT
Washington - An eight-lane highway bridge that plunged 20 metres into the Mississippi River during rush-hour traffic, killing at least four people, had been rated structurally troubled by government inspectors, the state governor said Thursday.
Police said 20 to 30 people may be missing in the river and the death toll was expected to rise after Wednesday's disaster on the 40- year-old span linking the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul in the northern state of Minnesota. About 60 people were injured.
President George W Bush pledged the US government's support to deal with 'the terrible situation' and rebuild the bridge quickly. The government offered Minnesota an initial 5 million dollars in aid to help get traffic moving again.
State politicians paid tribute to rescuers and ordinary citizens who tried to help victims, including a woman who dived repeatedly into the river. One severely injured man was able to say goodbye to his family on his mobile phone before dying, police said.
'This is a horrific incident that takes your breath away and sinks your heart,' Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty told reporters.
Mark Rosenker, head of the government's National Transportation Safety Board, said it was too early to say what caused the disaster. Experts will review video of the collapse and may reconstruct part of the bridge to understand what happened, he said.
The White House said a 2005 inspection found problems in the bridge and rated it 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability.
But officials said the rating signalled no imminent danger.
'It was by no means that this bridge was not safe,' said US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who travelled to the disaster site. 'None of those ratings indicated that there was any kind of danger here.'
Governor Pawlenty said the government currently rates about 80,000 bridges in the US with structural problems. Engineers determined that the ill-fated span, part of the Interstate 35W highway, would need replacement only in about 2020, he said.
'Structurally deficient does not mean immediately close the bridge,' Pawlenty told Fox News television.
The disaster sparked debate about the decaying state of the US interstate highway system, launched in the late 1950s by then president Dwight D Eisenhower.
Eisenhower, a US general in Europe during World War II, was inspired by the autobahns in Germany pushed by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
'This is America. Bridges shouldn't just fall down,' said Amy Klobuchar, a US senator from Minnesota.
The bridge, built in 1967 and including a 140-metre section across the river, was undergoing surface repairs when it crashed.
Initially, Pawlenty said the bridge passed state inspections in 2005 and 2006 with superficial problems but no structural deficiencies.
Officials first put the confirmed death toll at up to nine, but revised it to four early Thursday. By dawn Thursday, rescuers said they had little hope of finding more survivors in the crumpled wreckage of the steel-truss bridge.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Bridge had a government rating of 50 out of a possible 120. How far done the rating scale does it have to go before the Federal Government takes action?
'An eight-lane highway bridge that plunged 20 metres into the Mississippi River ...'
This isn't Europe -- what's with the '20 metres'??? How many feet is that??
The Romans did noy have 80,000 pound trucks going over there bridges every minute or so.I don't whats going on in other parts of the country but in the North EAST we have construction six day's a week on bridges and over passes every week of the year..It's a paine in the ass but it's better than being DEAD.GOD BLESS THESE POOR PEOPLE.
Reminiscent of the problems with the twin towers in New York where they used 3/4' bolt to hole the beams at one end and 5/8' bolt and the other end. No wonder they collapsed when subjected to abnormal stress. This bridge collapsed because it was built as cheaply as possible, instead of as good as possible. Someone said that a bridge was built in Alaska that doesn't go anywhere???? A pork barrel thing common when legislators have to award government contracts to people who contribute to their campaigns. A publicly financed political system will go far towards having legislators who spend their time making sure the system runs right instead of making sure their contributors are well heeled!
Much of our $$$ is going to Iraq. I guess we should get used to these horrible happenings. We don't have the money for our needs in the US, but someone in Iraq is having a BIG TIME with $$$ we're sending there.
I agree with Houston. The bridge was probably built cheeply as possible. Something has happened in modern engineering that things don't last. Take for example the twin span in Louisiana. It suffered major damage from Katrina but the older nearby bridge built in the 1930's was still intact after the storm and is stilled used. If the engineer for the bridge in minnesota is still alive, watch how the media and government will protect the engineering design. Much the same they did with the world trade center.
> 'An eight-lane highway bridge that plunged 20 metres
> into the Mississippi River ...'
> This isn't Europe -- what's with the '20 metres'???
> How many feet is that??
What's with the 'Ugly American' act?
Learn Metric, Yanqui. You're going to have to anyway.
JC,
We're sending $$$ to Iraq so that we don't have our bridges here in the US blown up. If we stop our efforts in Iraq, we will be fighting a war here at home. Read your history books, for it is about to repeat itself. Pay special attention to the rise of Hitler. The difference between the radical Muslims and Hitler? Hitler only hated the Jews. The radical Muslims will have ALL of us killed.
May God bless the people affected by this disaster. Godspeed to our troops.
The reason our bridges do not last as long as a Roman bridge is that they, the romans, would never allow a truck with a 35,000 lbs load per axle to travel at 7o mph over their bridge and thus impart a tremendous dynamic load onto the structure. High load travelling at high speed. That is why bridges and roadways in the USA are wearing at a tremendous rate.
May God Bless you all.
yep, this is th President...hello guvah...ah saw it....my condolences.
What? Me?
Guvnah, when ah wuz guvnah of Texass, AH wuz ree sponsible fer th bridges thire...
no...noe o thim evah fell down guvnah...noo, not even thim cheecanoo bridges...even if we wanted em ta...noo, th 49 otha govnah's don't have no bridges fallin down eithah...I knoow, too bad...
We told ya in 1994 guvnah...whaddya think 'dee ficint' means thire boyh? Nooo. it ain't a way t push it off son....it means ya gotta fix em...
Guvnah...you screwed th pooch boyh...I'll hep ya all I cin, but yur gonna git an ass whippin, n matta what...take it lahke a man boyh. All m Best t th wahfe!
Skipper,
One meter is equal to thirty-nine and three-eighths inches or 3' 3 3/8''. If you can remember that one number you'll never have trouble with meters again.
the romans did't have to many cars and trucks back then
if you are the same D.Rowden that worked at MLO years ago i can see why you think this way
page: 1
D.RowdenAug 2nd, 2007 - 17:00:20
Why is it the Romans could build bridges that lasted 2000 years and we can't build them to last fifty. Sometimes 'just good enough, isn't.
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