it was all downhill after that damn industrial revolution....

The bridge passed inspection in 2005 and 2006. But, tragically, a human inspection isn't perfect. That's a risk you take every time you ride an elevator, drive over a bridge, board an airplane, or launch a space shuttle. You trust that people have done the best that they can do to make sure that you'll be safe, and then you pray to whatever higher power you believe in for the rest.

At least the Department of Homeland Insecurity has quick to say that this isn't terror-related, though. (A small part of me kind of wishes that they would, just because I suspect that the backlash would be unbelievable. You don't mess with Minnesotans and their tragedies. You just don't.)

I lived in St. Paul for five years and I used to drive over bridge at least once a week. I just... wow.

"I bet Bush and Rove are trying to figure out a way to spin this disaster into something terror-ful and politically advantageous."

If rove is smart, he won't go there. Everything i'm hearing points to inadequate inspections, and other things that might happen if you say, slashed the budget for the department of transportation.

Pawlenty won't get a Rudy moment out of this...even if it's wrong, the perception i've been hearing from back home is that folks think this is what happens when you elect a republican to let the roads go to shit so you can afford a humvee.

ack! i got spammed...

I'm obviously in the area and I sat home last night with TV, but no internet connection (I'm on at work now). I'm wireless and am assuming it is down due to the stress of it all. Once I knew my family in the area was ok, I just sat and watched. Minneapolis has a wonderful mayor, RT Ryback, but this kind of failure should definitely fall on state and federal shoulders. We'll see how all this plays out, but my hunch is that, after years of ignoring infrastucture, these kinds of things are likely to start happening more often, especially in urban areas.

that is one of my biggest fears. every time i have to drive across a big bridge like that, i'm sure it's going to collapse. how terrifying. i'm amazed that more people weren't killed.

The NY Time has video of the actual collapse.
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=f7e0638ff493cd73e1992ce0d22a92cb897797ee

Six years ago independent engineers at the University of Minnesota warned that the I-35 bridge had “evidence of fatigue on the main truss and floor trusses and said the bridge might collapse if part of the truss gave way under the eight-lane freeway.”
In a brazen CYA move last night, Gov. Pawlenty (Bush Republican) said 2005 and 2006 bridge studies indicated there were "no structural deficits" in the I-35 bridge.
But today the president's spokesperson said the report actually said there were structural deficits. A 2005 federal inspection rated the bridge 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability, and the Bush administration said it was up to state officials to take corrective action.
The Minnesota Legislature attempted to take corrective action by passing transportation funding bills, but Pawlenty vetoed them.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, 75,422 of the approximately 600,000 bridges nationwide in 2006 carried a `structurally deficient' classification.

Are the Bushistas paying attention this time because they learned their lesson after New Orleans or because Minneapolis is white bread and sometimes votes for Rs? Where were they after the McAllen tornada a couple months back? Folks had to cross into Reyonsa to get help from the Mexican Army, because they couldn't wait around for FEMA to show up.

Ever since middle school I'd always heard stories from social and political scientists about failing infrastructure. Over eleven years, and it always passes through my mind as an afterthought because my teachers taught it as one. I've brought it up a few times when talking to people about changes, and it's always shrugged off for the sexier concerns.

This incident saddens me not only because of the loss of life, but also because the circumstances were preventable with long-term investment. The former obviously outweighs the latter, but you have no idea how angry I became this morning when my local news station said that the incident prompted new bridge inspections but our bridges are not designed like the Minnesota bridge. So the fuck what? Deterioration is deterioration. It's just...ugh. To all the factors involved. For some reason it always gets to me.

Obviously the bridge falling abajo es la faulta de el Republicos.

I blame investing too much of our tax dollars into the military and otherwise not investing taxes well in other things the public could use for this! The current regime we got in office-Bush and his Republican cronies isn't helping matters. Then again, this goes without saying because what HAS BU-sh done constructive in office since he's been there?

We'll see how all this plays out, but my hunch is that, after years of ignoring infrastructure, these kinds of things are likely to start happening more often, especially in urban areas.

This is my hunch to, but this is one time I was in the mood to hold my tongue, because I did not want to come across as too negative.