How the hell did that bridge

[Library bathroom rockstar]

collapse?
3 dead now..
:(

[raisemyglass]

I don't know, but the road had been under construction for a few weeks now. I'm sure that had something to due with it.

[blueone]

I heard something caught on fire.

[Library bathroom rockstar]

Thats so crazy
I have always feared going over bridges
I hope all the kids are alright

[raisemyglass]

The fires are from cars that crashed when the bride went down. The biggest fire is a tanker truck. Witnesses said the bridge just started to temble, and then went down in sections.

[blueone]

Yikes. I wonder if it happened quickly or not...

[Sydneyfan]

from reuters....


"I saw them carrying up a body -- I don't know if he was alive or dead," said Andy Schwich, who arrived at the scene on his bicycle a few minutes after the collapse.

A truck was exploding in fireballs, he said, and there were numerous cars either on the remnants of the bridge or in the river.

"It was the worst thing I ever saw," Schwich, 29, said.

CNN quoted emergency services saying as many as 50 to 100 cars were on the bridge when it collapsed.

Divers were searching the water.

A freight train was passing under the bridge when it collapsed, and was cut in two, WCCO television reported.

Witnesses said they heard a rumbling sound as the bridge collapsed into the river.

"First I heard this huge roar," Leone Carstens, a nearby resident, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I was at my computer. Initially I thought, Wow was that an airplane?"

Steel pilings stuck out at angles from the riverbed, huge chunks of concrete appeared to be floating in the debris-strewn water, and plumes of smoke rose from the site, a Reuters eyewitness said

At least three damaged cars were visible below from behind police lines along the riverbank near the collapsed span, which had stood about 20 metres above the river.

One witness said she saw people swimming in the water seeking safety and half-submerged vehicles. Injured survivors were led or carried up the embankment.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said in a May 2006 report that inspectors saw fatigue cracks and bending of girders that lift the approaching span, according to the local ABC-TV affiliate.
The agency said 200,000 cars a day use the steel arch bridge, which was built in 1967.

[hildegoat]

A similar thing happened in Montreal last fall:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Overpass_collapse

[foggy]

It's so awful, I'm watching it on the news now. I remember the Montreal bridge collapse too. :(

[Sydneyfan]

Fox online are reporting that all the kids on the school bus are safe, which is at least some little bit of good news.

Live stream from local TV stations: http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/08/02/minneapolis-bridge-collapse-live-streaming-coverage-from-local-msp-tv-and-radio-stations/

[ewok.online]

i drove across that bridge a lot.
my uncle drove across it 20 minutes before it fell going home from work.
last time i was on it was to go see Ryan last june.
fucking shit is nuts up there right now, lots of phones arent working due to all the cell traffic.

when you live in MN, you dont see "minneapolis" on the news very often, so when i did i just looked and watched in awe.

it's been a insane day in minnesota.

[Library bathroom rockstar]

Im glad you and your fam is ok.

[ewok.online]

Im glad you and your fam is ok.

thanks, man.

[autmommy]

Hope all the other MSP posters and their friends/fams are doin' ok. It is all very surreal. My son goes to school downtown, so i cross the river a minimum of 4 times everyday. I was supposed to go to a meeting at his school tonight at six, but decided this afternoon not to go. I usually use different bridges to get there and back (Broadway, Hennepin or the 42nd st. Bridge) but this is still a little too close to home for me. I have heard from all of my family and some of my closest friends, I just hope that I don't find out that a co-worker or someone else I may know was involved in this.