MN Gov. on breaking news press conference now.

[Breeze54]

They're expecting many more bodies, trying to figure out how to get to the cars below.

Based on what they know right now, there is no indication or wasn't any that the bridge
needed to be replaced immediately.

They are going to investigate that and there are many questions to be asked and answered.

They're using sonar to locate cars... talking about money needed to replace infrastructure,
the legislature's role and actions needed, funding, etc.

Bob McFarland is at the mic now.... giving condolences etc.

News Conference is being held by the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation.

They're going to reveal how they do inspections etc. Specifics.

More people are going to speak....

there are 80,000 bridges in the USA that carry the same rating. :scared:

Now some guy giving facts about the bridges history.

He's now talking about "THE WELDS"...

Hmmm the same topic in Boston after the tunnel collapes!

I wonder if that bridge was contructed by the same company? :shrug: (subsidiary of Halliburton?)

[myrna minx]

1. Ah, I see..."No one could have predicted that a plane would smash..."

Oh sorry. Same excuse, wrong tragedy. :-(

[acmavm]

2. No indication that it needed replaced immediately? What the hell

is wrong with these people? A bad bridge and thousands of cars and trucks a day. That is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.

[Cha]

4. This is getting OLD...I imagine especially

for the people who have suffered in Katrina and Minneapolis.

[atreides1]

3. The Legislature's Role

Would that be the same legislature that was unable to override a veto on a transportation bill, and then a whole bunch of people patted themselves on the back for stopping the bill from passing?

That legislature????

[Cha]

5. OT, but I think Einstein

had that half right..but then he didn't know the Dick of Death.

[azurnoir]

6. Timmy talking fast

he was theone that lead the charge to cut funding-for just about everything-*3 if it was Minneapolis or St Paul-infrastructure, schools, everything-he reasoning-people in the suburbs make more money then people in the city so why should the "cities" get more more money then the 'burbs? the end results? Saw a small part of them yesterday.

[peacetalksforall]

9. Does anyone have a brief chronology of the history of the funding

and the government decisions?

[Breeze54]

10. Funding for Bridge Inspection Equipment and Access Features

FHWA Directives and Policy Memorandums
Related to Bridges

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/memos.htm

Funding for Bridge Inspection Equipment and Access Features
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/100505.cfm

[Breeze54]

7. 3% of MN bridges are structually deficient!

:puke:

Which ones???????? :wtf:

[Breeze54]

8. There's a National Bridge Inspection Project

that's where they're getting the data....

saying they can generate a report from that data

-----------

Subject: INFORMATION: Funding for Bridge Inspection Equipment and Access Features
Date: October 5, 2005

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/100505.cfm

[shain from kane]

11. The real big ones. Not those dinky ones that take about a second to cross. You know, was that a

bridge that I just crossed? Hardly noticed it.

[Breeze54]

12. They've been replacing those little bridges here in MA.

They replaced one near my house last year and it took two years to complete it.
Took lots of negotiation because railroad tracks ran under it, so they had to
decide who carried what burden and how much.

[shain from kane]

13. How to lie with statistics: Widen the base count with items that are not equals. Reduces the % of

troubled items.

If 100% of 10 large bridges are substandard, and 100% of 90 small bridges are in standard condition, then only 10% of all bridges (100) are substandard. The perception is that It doesn't have to be such a large priority when measured in that manner.

[Breeze54]

14. Oh I know but he said that

only 3% were on the detrimental category. Seems odd though.

[shain from kane]

15. If bridges last 35 years, replace 3% every year, and in 35 years, they all have been replaced. This

one lasted 40 years. Should have been replaced 5 years ago. About the same time period that covered the last 2 inspections.

[Breeze54]

16. There are bridges in NYC and Boston that are over 100 yrs old!

Why did the MN one collapse after only 35 or 40 years? :shrug:

Something smells fishy!

[shain from kane]

17. The easiest answer is that they aren't the same bridges that they were 100 years ago. They

have been recognized for their importance, and maintained, materials have been replaced, modifications have been made. On the other hand, some of these modern bridges maintained by the highway departments seem disposable. And remember that they are built by the contractor with the lowest bid.