In Texas, the public has no right to read inspection reports

[douglas9]

Source: San Antonio Express-News


After a tugboat and its four heavy barges slammed into the Queen Isabella Causeway nearly six years ago, killing eight motorists, lawyer Michael Slack wondered if past boat accidents had weakened Texas' longest bridge.

The Texas Department of Transportation said he wasn't entitled to an answer.

.............

Federal officials provide some facts about the reliability of bridges across the United States. The public can find out the latest inspection date of a bridge, its location, when it was built and whether it is structurally sound.

But when it comes to finding out more details about Texas' 50,000 bridges, the public can't read actual inspection documents that might shed light on dangerous structures.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA080307.6A.TexasBridges.34315f1.html

[bluestateguy]

1. This incident was totally ignored by the MSM because it happened four days after 9/11

nt

[UTUSN]

3. Yip, imagine being shocked by 9-11, then THIS. Like, what NEXT?!1

(Re-post: ) PLEASE, there is NO intent here to diminish the pain of the current tragedy. Just drawing a perspective. Imagine 4 days after 9-11, these other people in another corner of the country found themselves shocked at the bridge at South Padre Island (of Spring Break & girls-gone-wild fame or infamy) collapsing with lives lost and vehicles plunging. Did it have to do with 9-11? No. But everybody was already shaken, then THIS! And it turned out to be a barge crashing into the bridge's support, whether from negligence or hangover or whatever. A kid asked her mother, "Is something ELSE going to happen?"

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http://bridgepros.com/projects/queenisabellacauseway /

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Eight people confirmed dead, thirteen people rescued from the water.

Four loaded barges crashed into the Queen Isabella Causeway (Texas' longest bridge) taking out a 240 foot section of the bridge. The Brown Water V tug and its barges crashed into one of the columns toppling two 80 foot sections of the bridge. The third 80 foot section collapsed later.

Five people have been confirmed dead. Four at the time of the accident and one later that died in the hospital. Two bodies were recovered from two vehicles that were pulled from the water by crane and hoisted onto a barge. Among those killed was Port Isabel Fire Marshal Robert Harris, said Desi Najera, emergency management coordinator.

Five vehicles were located in the 50-foot-deep water and divers took pictures of their license plates for identification, said Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu. There could be as many as five more vehicles. ....



http://spislandbreeze.com/news.php?id=650

TEARS: Community shares emotional tribute to those who died in 2001 collapse

The damage from the Sept. 15, 2001 partial collapse of the Queen Isabella Causeway has long since been repaired, but family and friends say they still feel pain from the loss of eight lives.

Five years after the disaster, the Laguna Madre communities gathered on at a causeway memorial site on South Padre Island for an emotional tribute to the victims.

“9-15 really hits close to home,” Port Isabel city commissioner Joe Vega said.

More...

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[MADem]

2. Sounds like a law is begging to be written.... nt