Minneapolis bridge collapse
Update 2:50pm Eastern. David N. at Overlawyered notes that the inevitable mob of trial lawyers is already circling the bridge collapse.
Update 8/2 1:50pm Eastern. Dean Barnett checks the stupid-o-meter.
More from the Blame Bush brigade.
Ed Morrissey blogs the federal response from President Bush, who promises “robust” efforts to investigate and rebuild the bridge.
Update 8/2 12:30pm Eastern. Popular Mechanics weighs in on America’s weak infrastructure.
Update 8/2 9:40am Eastern. Yes, yes, the BDS sufferers are crawling out of their padded cells to pin the collapse on conservatives. Here, here, and here (the comments blame global warming, Halliburton/Cheney, and lack of resources because of the war), if you must see it.
The Pioneer Press looks at Internet coverage of the collapse. Lots of Twitter users and bloggers covering the story wall-to-wall.
Meanwhile, a National Guardsman writes in: “I just wanted to point out something your readers might be interested in. If you look at the footage of the I-35 bridge collapse you can see the Minnesota Army National Guard Civil Support Team (CST – basically a WMD/Counter-Terror/Disaster Response Team) responded to the scene. You can see an M113 Armored [Personnel] Carrier on the north side of the collapse in footage taken at the scene…Just figured I’d point that out. As a National Guard member it sometimes gets frustrating that everybody always thinks of America’s soldiers as being over in Iraq. Whenever our Nation calls we respond, whether it’s in Iraq or right here at home.”
“I have several family members that were going across the bridge just minutes before the collapse – I am thanking God tonight they are safe. I don’t live in the Twin Cities area but oddly enough I was going across that bridge on Tuesday!”
Video and more info on warnings about the bridge’s structural deficiencies at HA.
Twin Cities blogger/journalist James Lileks reflects:
I’ve driven across this bridge every few days for thirty years. There are bridges, and there are bridges; this one had the most magnificent view of downtown available, and it’s a miracle I never rear-ended anyone while gawking at the skyline, the old Stone Bridge, the Mississippi. You always felt proud to be here when you crossed that bridge, pleased to live in such a beautiful place. Didn’t matter if it was summer twilight or hard cold winter noon – Minneapolis always seemed to be standing at attention, posing for a formal portrait . We’ll have that view again – but it’ll take a generation before it’s no longer tinged with regret and remembrance.
Update 8/2 9:30am Eastern. First-hand acounts from the kids on the school bus who survived the collapse:
“We were on our way back from the swimming field trip,” said Ryan Watkins, one of the youths on the bus.
“We were riding over the bridge and the bridge collapsed, and we were right on the part where it went down — where it curved down,” he said, describing the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge near University Avenue.
Watkins was one of 52 children and nine adults who survived the accident, according to Tony Wagner, president of the local nonprofit social services group that organized the trip.
Eight of the kids, ages 5 to 14, were hospitalized with injuries, Wagner said.
“I know a little girl who was bleeding,” Watkins said shortly after the accident. “I didn’t see what happened, but she was bleeding in between her legs and another girl had hurt her neck.”
Update 8/2 8:30am Eastern. Death toll lowered to four for now.
Update 10:50pm Eastern. Lots of folks on the cable news are saying the footage of the bridge collapse area reminds them of 9/11. I’m reminded more of the Northridge earthquake. I lived near the epicenter–and the breadth of destruction, the collapse of part of the Santa Monica freeway, the pancaking/destruction, etc., are very reminscent of the scene today. A Minnesota DOT official also alluded to the Northridge quake on CNN just now. And a fellow Northridge quake survivor told the Minnesota Star Tribune:
Catherine Yankelevich, 29, was on the bridge when “it started shaking, cars started flying and I was falling and saw the water,” she said.
Her car was in the river when she climbed out the driver’s side window and swam to shore uninjured.
“It seemed like a movie, it was pretty scary,” said Yankelevich, who is from California and survived the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
“I never expected anything like this to happen here,” she said.
Update 10:00pm Eastern. Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak reports that six deaths are confirmed…and they are bracing for a long, tragic night to come. Awful.
“No structural deficiencies” reported in 2006 on the bridge, according to Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Cosmetic and rehabilitation was being done.
As noted below, the Red Cross received 60 kids from the school bus that stopped short of plunging off the bridge…up to 10 kids transported to area hospitals…donations/aid can go to www.redcrosstc.org…
Reader Pete sends photos from the scene taken earlier this evening…
***
Update 9:30pm Eastern. From the St. Paul Pioneer Press…
Janet Stately, of Minneapolis, was driving southbound on Interstate 35W from Duluth with her daughter, Brianne. Stately said she exited onto University Avenue just minutes before reaching the bridge. On the overpass, she heard the cracking of the structure and
“I was driving the car and I screamed when I heard it crack,” Stately said. “It’s like it went in slow motion. I heard the crack and I saw the cars going straight in. There was not a space between the cars on that bridge. I tried to tell people on the road if you can swim get down there and help.”
This Minneapolis-area blogger was there and describes the slow, quiet collapse. He concludes: “This was not a bomb.” Metroblogging Minneapolis has more liveblogging/witness reports. CNN reporting 50-100 vehicles have plunged into the river.
Update 9:05pm Eastern. There was a Twins baseball game tonight, and local media report that a lot of the bridge traffic was comprised of fans headed downtown for the game. A Twins game scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled. Three reported dead. Cell phone networks are jammed.
Update 8:40pm Eastern. Minneapolis DOT holding a news conference in about an hour. To make things worse: there’s a severe weather warning…storm moving into the area.
Local Fox affiliate KMSP livestream of the disaster here.
DHS issued a statement that the collapse “does not appear to be an act of terrorism.” Isn’t it too early to say anything meaningful about what it “appears” to be? Couldn’t they maybe, I dunno, say nothing until they actually know something?
***
Twin Cities blogger Ed Morrissey: “I have spent the last half-hour finding my son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. They’re OK, and now we have to wait to see who isn’t. I’ll be updating this as more details become available…I agree with John [Hinderaker] on another point — bridges like these don’t collapse in the US, especially when they’re only 40 years old. It’s hard to say what could have brought it down, but hopefully the DoT will have more information.”
***
Terrible scene. Photos coming in.
It’s the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River. Worst possible time–evening rush hour. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:
It was not clear how many people might be hurt or killed, but witnesses said at least 20 cars were involved.
The crumpled green wreckage of the bridge lay on the east bank of the river, and a huge section of concrete roadway lay on the west bank. Down below in the river gorge, rescue workers scrambled to help people on the roadway that now lay in the gorge. Fires burned and black smoke rose billowed the wreckage.
Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge’s surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the interstate.
Rescue workers were helping some people from cars in the river onto land.
People at the scene said the entire bridge collapsed, leaving part of the roadway submerged and part above water.
Minneapolis-based John Hinderaker at Power Line: “I’ve crossed that bridge hundreds if not thousands of times. One of my brothers-in-law crossed it four times today. From news footage, it looks as though the whole bridge collapsed, more or less in one piece, into the river; there was footage of people walking around on the fallen bridge next to their cars. People have taken their boats onto the river to rescue victims in the water.”
***
There was a bus full of children on the bridge. WCCO:
It is just horrific,” said witness Marilyn Franzen, who saw the bridge collapse. Franzen said she saw a school bus that managed to stop before the going over the edge of the bridge that she said was carrying 20-30 children.
One bus–not sure if it’s the same one or a different one–carried 60-some children. They all survived. 10 taken to local hospitals.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Bill's Bites
- Captain's Quarters
- Wake up America-
- Stop The ACLU » Blog Archive » BREAKING: I-35W Bridge Collapse Into Mississippi River
- Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis at TOPIC SERVER
- Minneapolis, Minnesota I-35 Bridge Collapse Horror : Scared Monkeys
- Webloggin - Blog Archive » Tragic Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis
- GINA COBB
- Terrorism or Big Government Gone Wrong? « Blogs 4 Brownback
- In my thoughts « Bookworm Room
- Minneapolis-St. Paul Bridge Collapse | Hennessy's View
- Bridges and Resonance « The WYSIWYG* Blog
- Minneapolis bridge Collapse! » Freedom Folks
- Webloggin - Blog Archive » Moonbat Alert - Bridge Collapse is Republicans Fault
- Right Voices » Blog Archive » The 35W Bridge Collapse
- Keith D. Milby :: blog » Blog Archive » The Day The Bridge Fell In Minneapolis
- The World According To Carl
- Bridge Collapse On CNN
- Strangelove » It wasn’t an accident
- PAXALLES
- America’s Weak Infrastructure
- Point Five » Administration Fingerprints Not Yet Discovered In Bridge Wreckage
- DeMediacratic Nation
- Minnesota to New York…I miss Senator Pothole, aka Al D’Amato « THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS
- Iowa Voice » » Word To The Bush-Blamers
- Word To The Bush-Blamers at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source.
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- Conservative Culture » BREAKING: I-35W Bridge Collapse Into Mississippi River
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One unintended consequence of the media’s saturation coverage of this disaster is that politicians might feel free to make under-the-table deals without scrutiny. Vigilance is called for.
May the good people of the Twin Cities no longer undergo any more sorrow.
My prayers go out to the first responders and paramedics, as reporting to MCI’s (Mass Casualty Incidents) can take its psychological toll. Thank God the school bus didn’t go into the water.
That bridge is very close to where we live. It’s the route we take home from the Home Depot, (at the Quarry in NE for my fellow Minneapolitans/Twin Cities residents.) If you want to bring politics into it, then I guess you could say that since MN is basically a socialist state, this is what you get in a socialist state, people. More focus on giving handouts and painting crappy urban art murals with Che Guevara painted on them, than engineering and infrastructure.
Multi-span bridges are generally designed such that each span is independent of the others (with the exception of shared pilings) so that if one span were to fail, the others would remain standing. In this failure, ALL the spans came down. This would argue that there was either a major design flaw that undermined the independence of the spans, or there were multiple failure initiation sites. Multiple failure sites argues strongly for sabotage.
Related?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291809,00.html
First, hat off and bow to LC who said:
I referred incorrectly to the nature of the bridge collapes. Thank-you.
Second, a puzzled look at derel3433 who said:
I was the fourth poster. Please identify anywhere in my post where i referred to “welfare recipients”.
I didn’t even refer to “entitlement programs.”
I used the term “benefits” in relationship to citizens specifically because it casts a wide net around a very serious problem when it comes to state and municipal financing of major infrastructure projects *which require long term maintenance*.
Frankly, to “give it a rest for one night” more is part of the problem.
No disrespect intended. No offense taken. Merely standing on my two hind legs to make sure that what I said is projected accurately.
xler8bmw said:
“THXS Desert Lover! LMAO I see the conspiracy theory idiots are out too!
Does anyone have the common sense that if it was AQ there would have been a huge explosion and there would be tiny pieces of rubble and the cars would be exploded into bit.”
It is obvious that you know nothing about how bridges are taken out with explosives. It would not have to be a huge explosion to bring it down. Small charges in the right place would bring this bridge down in a heart beat using gravity to accomplish the task.
Rorschach spelled it out in very simple terms and he is right.
I will wait for the investigation but this bridge collapse is highly suspicious and it is not a conspiracy when people question the fact that DHS said it was not a terrorist attack with no information for them to base that announcement on within the first 30 minutes after the collapse.
In fact, I am surprised that Chertoff did not encourage all of us to spend money and ignore the whole thing like he has done in the past. DHS has zero credibility because of the past statements that mirror the one made about this tragedy.
Not quite, derel3433 – it took 23 posts to blame welfare, not 4.
If we wanna blame something in Minnesota, maybe the billions spent building light rail from Downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America might get a little.
Unfortunately many of us are also Timberwolves fans…
Scotty Dog in reference #89
You’re obviously confused how AQ wwouldn’t use a controlled demolition environment. And I doubt this bridge was high on their list to destroy considering they started with WTC and an attempt on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Thanks for your thoughts chicken little.
Whatever the “cause” there is likely to be more than one. But there is a big difference between “inspection” and “repairing” “retrofitting” and “maintenance”.
When it comes to paying for stuff, state and municipal governments have a heckuva time balancing their priorities.
Paying benefits to the poor, sick, elderly and other qualified recipients is an awesome responsibility.
Making sure infrastructure is solvent and in good repair is an awesome responsibility.
Unfortunately both disbursement systems are frought with inadequacies, shall we say?
And both mean life or death for millions across the country.
In the short term, as private citizens, we benefit with a huge time dividend from not having to spend personal time holding state and municipal government accountable through our participation in active, organized oversight activities.
In the long run, if too many of us fail in our civic duty to participate in said oversight, we pay. Sometimes with our lives.
Our country is so bountiful because we have roads and bridges.
And leaving aside the sheisters selling “lite rail” and “transit village” contracts to municipalities, few solutions offer the efficiency of having good quality roads and bridges available for personal and commercial transport.
That abundance is taken for granted by many in this country. My kids don’t give roads a second thought. I don’t. My business and my family’s survival depends on them. But rather than depict that as a “dangerous dependence”, I prefer to call it what it is: common sense solutions to practical needs which need long term maintenance.
Suspending judgement for the moment about whether the bridge collapsed due to terrorist attack or not, I hope we can have a wider discussion across the country about infrastructure.
I say this because recently here in the Bay Area a gasoline tanker truck overturned while passing underneath a major connector here near the Bay Bridge.
It caught fire and burned. The heat of the blaze melted the steel and the connector structure melted. (kinda put a dent in the Truther theory that the jet fuel fires on 9/11 couldnt have melted the steel).
Was it terror related? Who knows. It was the second time one of that company’s trucks blew up and burned.
The point is it accentuated a mindset among some of us here in town that any type of infrastructure disaster is something that will figure into our day to day survival and quality of life.
So why has our City just spent $3 million to buy a sliver of land for a freaking bike path project, and our disaster preparedness program has to beg for money?
Priorities skewed by abundance. Fantasyland. Taking advantage of property owners who pay taxes. Abusing the “initiative” ballot in our state to fund “Green” horsesh*t projects that need maintenance and future spending- too high of an opportunity cost at the expense of roads and bridges, and disaster preparedness.
My point: my cronies and I have increased our oversight of local government proceedings on infrastructure issues because Our survival depends on it.
Ms. Malkin,
We spend so much time on things that matter so little. Please spend a lot of time on this Minnesota tragedy if you can. Thank you for your coverage so far.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/08/02/minnesota-to-new-yorki-miss-senator-pothole-aka-al-damato/
Respectfully,
eric
at this point no one really knows what brought down the bridge.
But I can say this… inspected every 2 years? Unlikely. I realize that every state is different. But here in Maine we have exactly one 2-person crew that does bridge inspections for the entire state. They are certifed divers due to the fact that most inspections require checking of underwater pilings. But one team for every bridge in a state full of rivers? There are over 5K bridges here. They don’t get inspected every 2 years.
Of course it could be the fact that it has no pilings. Perhaps the engineering or construction of that bridge was not correct.
Or the fact that there is a rather large contingient of jihadis living in MN.
But eventually the facts will come out. In the meantime… everyone needs to stop rushing to lay blame. The finger pointing is so… kindergarten.
Correct, but some folks are more given to panic and episodes of “Truther-ism”.
No skin off my nose if folks feel the need to grab the plastic & duct tape and run screaming into the basement where they can safely contemplate a multitude of conspiracy theories.
It does make the eyes roll, though, since I know catastrophic tragedies happen and that gravity is an especially cruel mistress. No need for me to blame poor people, Bush, illegals, muslims, the CIA, the media, whatever for horrible accidents.
“so kindergarten” ???? Speaking for myself, I am assuming the probability of infrastructural failure is greater than a terrorist strike. Making attributions based on that calculated assumption is not something a kindergartner is likely to do.
Just delimiting the reach of your Jennifer Aniston and “Friends”-like use of the word “so” while pointing your own digital digit.
Just last week there was a horrible fire in Dallas. On Fox4news the firemen were clearly watching the fire burn down until they could get close enough to fight it. No one had been even close enough to do anything. On cue, DHS issued a statement that it wasn’t terror related.
I pray for all the families of those lost they will have their hearts eased knowing how much the country mourns with them. Every tragedy brings out the best of what we as Americans are.
A friend of the family almost lost a 5 year old son, as the son was in transit from his day camp, traveling on his way home, just 5 minutes from crossing the bridge before it collapsed.
We never know.
So now it it’s known the bridge “failed”.
Is it safe to discuss the possibilities or will that be misconstrued as “finger pointing”?
In reference to post #50–
I found that link, finally, thanks to a friend. Not that it matters anymore, but at least I can make good on my promise.
[url]http://www.airamerica.com/node/4701?from=90&comments_per_page=90[/url]
Ah yes. Air America. Plenty of Bush hating to be found there. The specific comment I posted is a little bit about the half way point on the page.
Minn. bridge problems uncovered in 1990
AP
MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota officials were warned as early as 1990 that the bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River was “structurally deficient,” yet they relied on a strategy of patchwork fixes and stepped-up inspections.
“We thought we had done all we could,” state bridge engineer Dan Dorgan told reporters not far from the mangled remains of the span. “Obviously something went terribly wrong.”
Ya Normsrevenge I noticed that story too.
I was also surprised (NOT) to see the front page story on my local newspaper
State to look at Bridge Inspection Program
gee.. big surprise… oh by the way I was wrong yesterday we don’t have 5K bridges only 3k bridges in Maine. But the state acknowledges that at least 10% are are structurally deficient. Nice….
@bear1909
Never having seen Jennifer Aniston or Friends I’m going to assume that you a point there.
But I don’t know what it is.
You can finger point all you want. It’s been two days… ONE when you decided to take me to task over it. They still don’t know what caused that bridge to fail. Only that it did.
Was it design? Was it maintenance or lack thereof? I heard one theory stating it was road salt usage.
But you, in your ultimate wisdom know EXACTLY what brought it down and are ready to point fingers and file lawsuits.
Go ahead… I don’t care.
Because one other thing I learned in Kindergarten was that some kids just don’t ‘get it’.
It’s Not Iraq. It’s Local Incompetence.
Well, I hope when our shocked-shocked-shocked politicians droolingly jump to slash funding the “needless” war against terror in a frenzy of compassionate infrastructure reconstruction, that they figure in not the just the cost of fixing bridges and roads (which THEY long neglected), but the cost of rebuilding an entire city (or cities) out of nuclear rubble.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
In 2005, Congress passed and Bush signed the largest highway bill ever. (See http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=35925) Wonder what Minnesota did with their share? They’ve hit the lottery now, though. The money will come flying in. Wonder what they’ll do with it now?
One of our interns just blamed Gov. Pawlenty’s veto of a spending bill on the bridge collapse. Unbelievable.
We also just “Voted Yes!” on a referendum that was put in on the 2006 ballot allocating a certain amount of our taxes to go JUST to MNDot, (the dept of transportation.) Where did that money go? Fiscal retard thy name is Minnesotan. You’re talking about a state where the regular Democratic party is too conservative so there’s the DFL, (dumb f-ing liberals as I call them.) And this is the first state to launch a class-action lawsuit against “big tobacco” and win. Where did the money for that go? Did it go toward some sort of medical program, (free patches, free nicorette gum, etc) something that may have helped people get off of tobacco like it was supposed to? No, of course not. It went to those goofy “Truth” ads which only make me want to smoke. I get a nic fit everytime I see one – I have to turn the channel. As I stated: fiscal retard, thy name is Minnesotan. Don’t expect the people of this state to do anything rational with the highway money.