Bridge collapses on I-75 in Chattanooga; interstate closed in both directions

[iscooterliberally]

Source: WSB-TV

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Interstate 75 is closed in both directions in Chattanooga after part of a bridge collapsed onto the roadway below.

Tennessee Department of Transportation officials say a concrete barrier at the I-24/I-75 split fell from the I-75 S bridge onto I-75 N below.

The concrete hit a car as it crashed down. The driver of that car has non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department.

Read more: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/bridge-collapses-on-i-75-in-chattanooga-interstate-closed-in-both-directions/936050582

[Julian Englis]

1. Another example of tRump's "Infrastructure Weak." n/t

[alfredo]

22. And Republican blocking money for infrastructure upgrades.

[tblue37]

2. Our infrastructure is Third World. But our billionaires are doing well. nt

[Delphinus]

18. You said it.

So much of our infrastructure is in need of repair - I'm nervous when going over bridges these days.

[genxlib]

3. We don't need no stinking infrastructure spending

What could possibly go wrong when you under fund bridge maintenance for a generation?

[iscooterliberally]

6. Where does Trump think we're going to put refugees, sex offenders and homeless folks?

Our roads are going to need health care so we can handle these problems.

[csziggy]

23. Try two or three generations of neglect!

My husband's first father in law was a bridge inspector in the South East. He kept a list of unsafe bridges that he gave to his children so they could avoid them. That was in the early 1970s. It's only gotten worse since.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. The money they would have spent fixing it can go for the wall. MAGA! NT

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. Ok, it's on the list. There's a wall to be built first, though.

Sad.

[LonePirate]

7. I'm sure blood red TN is perfectly fine with deferring these repairs to fund the wall.

The wall is what they voted for in that election.

[greymattermom]

8. This is on my regular route

when I visit my grandkids.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. You take i-75? Or the crossroad that fell down?

I-75 should be quickly cleared and back in service. The crossroad? Well, I'm sure there's a 40-mile detour.

[James48]

28. Story says

The bridge that fell IS I-75 ramp onto I-25.

It’s actially the Interchange between the two.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

35. Ugh, that will take a while to fix.

The new steel beams will probably have to be designed, formed, shipped from China. After someone figures out why it fell.

IIRC, a ramp in Detroit was destroyed in the 1970s by a tanker fire (I-94E to I-75N?) and it took quite a few months. A big pain, even though there were other freeways available for a reasonable detour.

[SFnomad]

9. To fix this, we clearly need more tax breaks for billionaires n/t

[rampartc]

36. needs to be privatized so billionaires can collect tolls

then some invisible hand somewhere can give the billionaire more taxpayer money to maintain the thing.

[fierywoman]

10. How many trips to Mar al Lago would it have taken to pay to fix the ccollapsed bridge? Less

than one?

[defacto7]

12. I'm sure there's a lot more out there in the same condition.

[yaesu]

13. If I were in the news biz I would definitely take April 1st off

because with all the weird stuff happening during the Trump era everything would be considered an April fools joke.

[DemoTex]

14. Fuck the bridge, build the wall.

First things first, people.

[iscooterliberally]

37. They could build a wall-bridge with a tunnel through it!

Yeah, that's the ticket!

[Leith]

15. No deaths, only one injured?

That's amazing.

There is no reason in the world that the bridge should have been in such a poor condition. It's inexcusable.

[iscooterliberally]

38. Actually someone did suffer non-life threatening injuries.

We got lucky. This could have been a whole lot worse.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Got no money for bridges, just walls in the middle of a desert.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. You can't blame Trump.

For years now infrastructure spending and maintenance has been neglected just about everywhere in this country.

It's actually a wonder that more collapses aren't occurring all the time.

[kimbutgar]

20. And which party refused to fund infrastructure during the Obama years?

President Obama did get some roads and bridges repaired I those two year the Democrats controlled both houses. Then after 2011 everything stopped and no infrastructure. We Demcorats needs to pound out that message in all those red states. The repukes are just not into the people. Jesus and anti abortion people are not going to rebuild your roads and bridges why keep voting for them?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. I have a feeling that there's plenty of blame to go around.

But my simple point is that the lack of infrastructure maintenance goes back a long time. Decades. Not just to the Obama administration.

The bridge collapse in Minnesota was in August of 2007. Again, a structure that had been neglected for years.

I agree that anyone who cares should be pounding at the message all the time. Wonder why it doesn't happen.

Sort of like I never understood why Obama didn't spend every single day pointing out that the Republicans were refusing to consider Merrick Garland's Supreme Court nomination. It was dumb of him not to bring it up constantly. He should have been after them just to do there jobs but no, just a great silence.

Some things people shouldn't be silent about.

[JI7]

26. no, it is mostly Republicans who refuse to fund these things

[at140]

30. Republicans love to fund the Billionaires

85% of tax cuts went in the pockets of richest 10%.

[SMoss]

27. 2 years if infrastructure spending 2009, 2010.

Then McTurkey Neck took over and it was NO to everything.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. Clearly there was already a lack of infrastructure spending

long before then.

There isn't zero spending on the roads and bridges. Just not nearly enough.

I make cross-country drives several times a year and it's rare that I don't come up against some road repair.

[JI7]

34. the lack of it was because of Republicans , whether they are President or control Congress

[NCjack]

19. Sorry 'Nooga. That bridge repair money is going to Texas to build #45's Wall. nt

[Yeehah]

21. More tax cuts for billionaires is the obvious answer

to fix our crumbling infrastructure.

[SMoss]

24. I-35 bridge in TX nearly collapsed in 2008.

A research project at the UofT put a prototype condition monitoring system on the bridge in Feb of 2008. In March it detected a 8 inch crack in a main girder growing at 1/4 inch a week. That bridge was not going to be inspected again for a year. Congress shut down the NI ST project that sponsored that work at UofT in 2008. That bridge collapse would have cost dozens of lives and 100s of millions to the economy.

[tanyev]

31. Was that in Austin? Curious about exactly where.

Used to live there but moved to North TX years ago. Tried to google it, but the Minnesota I35 collapse overwhelms the search results.

[James48]

29. We need a law

That says- in Congressional districts that vote against infrastructure funding , no bridge money will be spent.

And then we need interest markers to denote when you are entering a Republican “no spending” zone, so that you can either drive around, or else take a plane.

Seriously.

[turbinetree]

33. Tennessee............................

https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/tennessee/

[ROB-ROX]

39. RED states are just third world countries in the USA

The GOP screw their people to pamper the GOP rich people. They also have ignorant people who do not know any better then to listen to their fearless leaders. They also have been "trained" to ignore the TRUTH because their leaders did not them this information...They get what they deserve....SAD

[Gato malo]

40. It's a miracle that no one died

Thank God.