35W Bridge Collapses in Minneapolis - 8 Lanes, 4 in use

[Modelworks]

They just added that there were no reported structural problems on the bridge and that the current crew was just repairing the top layer.
That the engineers told them they would probably have to replace the entire road deck in 2020.

Boy was that estimate way off.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
My brother uses this bridge everyday during work and I can't reach him. I tried text messaging but it doesn't work.

I finally was able to get in touch with him. He used the bridge today but was on it about 30 minutes before it fell.

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
They just added that there were no reported structural problems on the bridge and that the current crew was just repairing the top layer.
That the engineers told them they would probably have to replace the entire road deck in 2020.

Boy was that estimate way off.

Not necessarily.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Electric Mayhem
I'm a structural engineer, but I work on railroad bridges, old (100 years +) and new.

It's not a secret that our country is in severe need of funding for thousands of bridge repairs and replacements, large and small, across the country, both railroad and traffic. I'm sad to say that a tragedy like this may be what's needed to get our citizens' and lawmakers' eyes to open up.

It's very shocking to see something like this. From what I read it sounds like fatigue cracks were present that ma have been a main factor. But it's too early to tell....there appear to be different types of structures and multiple spans collapsed.

At least Minneapolis will be getting a new f@#$ing baseball stadium. F@#$ politicians and their priorities.

35W is a Federal Highway. The fact that Minneapolis is building a new stadium has nothing to do with Federal Highway funds.

Using a tragedy like this to make cheap, misguided political jabs makes you an asshat of the highest magnitude.

 

[PELarson]

Originally posted by: daniel1113

Originally posted by: Imp
One year from being a Civil Engineer, and I won't even bother talking out of my as* what happened. Can't tell from pictures since every span seemed to collapse, and even though it looks like a truss system (article says it is), don't know exactly which member carries what to where. The best thing from this is that it wasn't an overpass. A few months ago, an overpass made hamburgers out of a few cars below with multiple passengers around here.

Speaking of which, there have been a few shots on TV showing a train that was passing under the bridge during the collapse, and the train cars are absolutely demolished.

Actually, according to forum users on Trainorders.com the line under the bridge is used for storage, empty cars. and at least one of the cars shown was damaged years ago.

http://www.trainorders.com/dis...ion/read.php?1,1460619

 

[spidey07]

What ticks me off the most is the push for a number. The constant push...

"so, how many dead?"
"we aren't sure"
"so, you're incompetent?"
"information is still coming in"
"you're saying you don't have a number then?"

F'in reporters.

This is terrible and I hope everybody is OK. The impact logistically will hurt and hopefully the city can absorb it.

 

[kalster]

looked scary , hope there are minimum casualties

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: pcslookout
My brother uses this bridge everyday during work and I can't reach him. I tried text messaging but it doesn't work.

I finally was able to get in touch with him. He used the bridge today but was on it about 30 minutes before it fell.

Thank God your brother is okay.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: kalster
looked scary , hope there are minimum casualties

I've heard 6 so far.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
whew! my sister is ok. she lives almost across the street from the bridge and luckily was somewhere else. she rides her bike across that bridge every day

Glad to hear she is ok. I hope there wasn't a lot of people walking along the bridge at the time.

Thankfully, that bridge carried Interstate traffic only--no non-motorized vehicles or pedestrians. It did, however span not only the river, but the roadways and sidewalks on both banks, so pedestrian deaths are still possible.

updates say at least 6 have perished in this tragedy.

EDIT: MN-DOT says in thier 2006 report that they expected this bridge to last through 2020 without "major" repairs. I'm speechless.

 

[bctbct]

Originally posted by: TheTony
Bridge specs

okay, after looking at that design I vote for the steel now. Not at all like the design I would have envision.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: yuppiejr

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: bctbct
Wow, dont see many accidents like this. 40 years doesnt seem very old for a bridge to last. Some construction company is going ape shit right now.

for the victims and families.

This has happen before by wind.

You're a tard, seriously. Maybe your lack of intelligence culminated in a single blast of idiocy that weakened the bridge and caused the collapse... I'd give that theory at least as much weight as your global warming BS.

For anyone trying to track down friends/loved ones - cell/voicemail isn't an option but as a previous poster said, SMS/texting is working fine.

Actually there was a famous case where wind did cause a bridge to collapse. It caused the bridge to vibrate at it's harmonic frequency which kept building up until finally the bridge collapse. It's a famous case study used in many physics and engineering courses...

 

[EKKC]

wtf? i wanted to laugh but if they made this after the accident thats some sick stuff

 

[ViviTheMage]

I went down to the scene, because I only live like 3 miles away....its surreal to see a BRIDGE of that size collapsed and to know I was just driving on it.

there were hundreds of emergency vehicles around....insane.

 

[StormRider]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: yuppiejr

Originally posted by: daniel1113
From what I've seen and heard so far, this seems like a simple structural failure (too much downward force for the bridge to support, either due to an overload situation or a weakened structure from construction) and not a weather or vibration induced failure.

It definitely makes you think about the thousands of engineered structures you pass on a daily basis.

Yea, there was an interesting report in 2006 regarding fatigue fractures in some of the structural steel of the main girders in the bridge superstructure. Given the single large span construction of the bridge it would make sense that if the repair work pushed a section to the point of failure the rest of the bridge would fail catastrophically.

It sounds like they have only gotten 30 or so paitents at HCMC and as time passes are reclassifying this from a "rescue" to a "recovery" effort. Scary stuff, our family's prayers for those with friends/family that are still unaccounted for.

Which could of easily been caused by heat these cracks. The road cracks all the time from heat. I am not sure if we will ever know the true cause.

I don't think it's caused by global warming. I think it's caused by our neglect for our countries infrastructure (highways, bridges, power grid etc).

 

[Thegonagle]

Long time, no see, NFS4.

I'm sorry to say, but I find your "fixed" link rather tasteless, given the magnitude of the tragedy in my home city, 2.5 miles from where I sit.

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I went down to the scene, because I only live like 3 miles away....its surreal to see a BRIDGE of that size collapsed and to know I was just driving on it.

there were hundreds of emergency vehicles around....insane.

Did they interview you ?

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Tifababy

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Electric Mayhem
I'm a structural engineer, but I work on railroad bridges, old (100 years +) and new.

It's not a secret that our country is in severe need of funding for thousands of bridge repairs and replacements, large and small, across the country, both railroad and traffic. I'm sad to say that a tragedy like this may be what's needed to get our citizens' and lawmakers' eyes to open up.

It's very shocking to see something like this. From what I read it sounds like fatigue cracks were present that ma have been a main factor. But it's too early to tell....there appear to be different types of structures and multiple spans collapsed.

At least Minneapolis will be getting a new f@#$ing baseball stadium. F@#$ politicians and their priorities.

The ground breaking for the new stadium has been postponed because of the bridge collapse.

Yeah, politicians are always helpful after the fact. Planning things in advance however doesn't seem to be a strength for them.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I went down to the scene, because I only live like 3 miles away....its surreal to see a BRIDGE of that size collapsed and to know I was just driving on it.

there were hundreds of emergency vehicles around....insane.

Did they interview you ?

no, we stayed away from press....haha

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
I went down to the scene, because I only live like 3 miles away....its surreal to see a BRIDGE of that size collapsed and to know I was just driving on it.

there were hundreds of emergency vehicles around....insane.

Did they interview you ?

no, we stayed away from press....haha

I bet they were all over. They make a circus out of these things.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: kalster
looked scary , hope there are minimum casualties

I've heard 6 so far.

Wow, nice job editing your post, heartless bastard.

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: Electric Mayhem

A better example of what wind can do is perhaps the collapse of the Kinzua railroad bridge in NE Pennsylvania in 2003.

Although that's a tornado, I wouldn't call that "wind".

A lot of civil engineering has to do with probability. What's the probability that an earthquake of a certain magnitude can hit this area in the next 100, 200 500 years? What's the probability that the river level can exceed this limit in the next 100 years? etc.. If engineers would design structures, dams, roadways, for extreme wind, snow, hydrostatic, live loads, etc. we would have very expensive, "ugly", albeit robust structures.

The design strength goes up as the importance of the structure goes up. Hospitals and schools are probably some of the safest building structures.

Holland's flood protection is designed to withstand 1,000 year floods, or so I've heard.

An interstate span that has 200,000 ADT (average daily traffic) should be pretty important... anyway.

There has been a lot of shameful engineering disasters lately, first New Orleans and now this

 

[alphatarget1]

Originally posted by: StormRider

Originally posted by: yuppiejr

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: bctbct
Wow, dont see many accidents like this. 40 years doesnt seem very old for a bridge to last. Some construction company is going ape shit right now.

for the victims and families.

This has happen before by wind.

You're a tard, seriously. Maybe your lack of intelligence culminated in a single blast of idiocy that weakened the bridge and caused the collapse... I'd give that theory at least as much weight as your global warming BS.

For anyone trying to track down friends/loved ones - cell/voicemail isn't an option but as a previous poster said, SMS/texting is working fine.

Actually there was a famous case where wind did cause a bridge to collapse. It caused the bridge to vibrate at it's harmonic frequency which kept building up until finally the bridge collapse. It's a famous case study used in many physics and engineering courses...

Tacoma-Narrows Bridge in WA back in the 50s, when engineers didn't know much about wind dynamics.

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: Electric Mayhem

A better example of what wind can do is perhaps the collapse of the Kinzua railroad bridge in NE Pennsylvania in 2003.

Although that's a tornado, I wouldn't call that "wind".

A lot of civil engineering has to do with probability. What's the probability that an earthquake of a certain magnitude can hit this area in the next 100, 200 500 years? What's the probability that the river level can exceed this limit in the next 100 years? etc.. If engineers would design structures, dams, roadways, for extreme wind, snow, hydrostatic, live loads, etc. we would have very expensive, "ugly", albeit robust structures.

The design strength goes up as the importance of the structure goes up. Hospitals and schools are probably some of the safest building structures.

Holland's flood protection is designed to withstand 1,000 year floods, or so I've heard.

An interstate span that has 200,000 ADT (average daily traffic) should be pretty important... anyway.

There has been a lot of shameful engineering disasters lately, first New Orleans and now this

NO was struck by a hurricane... Which had a major inmpact on the levies not holding... This, so far seems to have been caused by no natural disaster....

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1

Originally posted by: Electric Mayhem

A better example of what wind can do is perhaps the collapse of the Kinzua railroad bridge in NE Pennsylvania in 2003.

Although that's a tornado, I wouldn't call that "wind".

A lot of civil engineering has to do with probability. What's the probability that an earthquake of a certain magnitude can hit this area in the next 100, 200 500 years? What's the probability that the river level can exceed this limit in the next 100 years? etc.. If engineers would design structures, dams, roadways, for extreme wind, snow, hydrostatic, live loads, etc. we would have very expensive, "ugly", albeit robust structures.

The design strength goes up as the importance of the structure goes up. Hospitals and schools are probably some of the safest building structures.

Holland's flood protection is designed to withstand 1,000 year floods, or so I've heard.

An interstate span that has 200,000 ADT (average daily traffic) should be pretty important... anyway.

There has been a lot of shameful engineering disasters lately, first New Orleans and now this

New Orleans was hit by a hurricane. it was not built to withstand one the size that hit it.

so far this does look like a engineering disaster. New Orleans was not.