Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

[OSU_D/]

Major props

Major props need to be given to the emergency services here. The police have the area sealed from the public. The streets all around all blocked to allow for emergency vehicles. Emergency rescue boats were in the water even though there is a big lock with the highest waterfall and elevation drop on the entire course of the river about 1/2 mile upstream.

By the time I got a call and went down (I live on the Mississippi 1/2 mile toward the city from the bridge) to see if I could help - approx 30 min from the time of the accident though I didn't know it at the time - all of the above was done.

Thank god for the construction on that bridge or you would be looking at hundreds dead!!!!!

 

[Mike80]

and by the looks of it (including your post), I came home with a full boat once again..

Oh so you like being compared to flies on shit and being called a dumbass?

But back to this topic......

 

[Mike80]

To get this thread back on topic....

Twins-Royals game postponed due to bridge collapse

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Twins have postponed Thursday's game against Kansas City following a bridge collapse near the Metrodome and team president Dave St. Peter said their weekend series with Cleveland also could be affected.

The Twins also postponed Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony for the team's new stadium, which will be located downtown.

Twins officials decided to play Wednesday night's game after conferring with department of public safety officials. It was decided that sending 20,000-25,000 people back into traffic could hinder rescue efforts.

"It is a difficult situation, but it was the right to do to play tonight," St. Peter said. "Tomorrow is a different story. Not playing tomorrow is also a matter of traffic control. We are respectful of the situation and for the lives lost."

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was scheduled to be in town for Thursday's groundbreaking. St. Peter said Major League Baseball is aware of the situation and the postponements.

He also said that, to the best of his knowledge, all Twins front office personnel and player's families are safe.

There was no immediate word on the number of injuries in the collapse, but aerial footage on a local television station showed dozens of rescue vehicles.

 

[CleveBucks]

Didn't something like this happen in Oklahoma a few years ago?

 

[NFBuck]

Like a fly on shit, here we have Tibs fishing for comments AGAIN

...and succeeding AGAIN.

 

[TRON]

and by the looks of it (including your post), I came home with a full boat once again..

How does it feel?

 

[Buckeyedynasty]

I believe that would be You are or You're

And once again you missed the point....like most of your posts. Pointless and insipid, Go ding yourself.

The last numbers I heard on the news were that there are 6 confirmed deaths and 20+ injured. Sad story.

Now it is 7 reported deaths.

 

[sandgk]

My bet is terrorist attack. But time will tell.

No need to invoke terrorists - first they would (I believe) target a more iconic structure second the MNDOT already knew that the bridge was constructed without sufficient redundancy. This deficiency could only be completely corrected by a complete rebuild.
The 89 page MNDOT report by UM CE department is here in PDF format.
In 2005 MNDOT inspection reported the bridge to be structurally deficient. The bridge was effectively slated for future replacement.
Basically, the problem can be stated thusly.
The bridge was built to accept a lower flow of traffic than it was forced to accept. The acceptance criteria for the bridge load as constructed in 1967 assumed a constant load, rather than a real life periodic cyclic stress load. The load factor equations used in '67 would never be used today in making a new bridge - being very unconservative.
Failure mode - I fully expect the failure mode to be one that is illustrated by a flexing stress model. That is, like a paper clip being bent to and fro by hand, the steel connectors and trusses in the bridge were being bent and relaxed through a range of motion - the amplitude of which depends on the mass of the passing traffic. Because of increased load that range of motion and magnitude of stress is greater than the '67 unconservative design assumed. Without sufficient redundancy the trusses and other structural members will eventually fail under the applied load. Like the paper clip illustration, at some point, the metal will begin to form minute cracks which then propagate, till there is catastrophic failure.
Because of the lack of redundancy in the structure, once a major section fails the remainder cannot support the structural or passing load and the whole thing comes down like a house of cards.

This was simply a case of an accident waiting to happen.

Didn't something like this happen in Oklahoma a few years ago?

Webber Falls on the I-40, initiated by a barge collision, also believed to be promoted by structural deficiency (lack of redundancy).
The original CNN report of this collapse is here.

 

[iambrutus]

we have 7 employee's that work in St. Paul, and I know several more people in that area. I was able to get in contact with two of them last night who are ok, but I haven't heard about the others yet.

 

[CCI]

That's F'd up. Thoughts go out to those affected and their families. Hope everything turns out ok.

Ditto

idiot.

Ditto

Your a dumbass.

My thoughts exactly

My bet is terrorist attack. But time will tell.

Hope not for those Soldiers in the middle east

and by the looks of it (including your post), I came home with a full boat once again..

fisher of men, oh wait that's christian not Muslin

 

[Jeffcat]

Didn't something like this happen in Oklahoma a few years ago?

neah, that was just a guy that blew himself up at halftime of the football game.

 

[buckeyefool]

neah, that was just a guy that blew himself up at halftime of the football game.

Reading is fun.....yeah!!!!!

Just a few posts above yours.

Webber Falls on the I-40, initiated by a barge collision, also believed to be promoted by structural deficiency (lack of redundancy).
The original CNN report of this collapse is here.

 

[tibor75]

we have 7 employee's that work in St. Paul, and I know several more people in that area. I was able to get in contact with two of them last night who are ok, but I haven't heard about the others yet.

Godspeed that they were able to make it to work on time today.

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

 

[AKAK]

neah, that was just a guy that blew himself up at halftime of the football game.

neah?

What the fuck does that mean?

"Maybe"