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Downtown Minneapolis Bridge Collapses

NeciFiX

Kung Fu Fighting!
Now, even if you don't live near Minneapolis something like this may have happened to you...

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Three people were confirmed dead in the collapse of a freeway bridge in Minneapolis, CNN reported on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington said there was no indication of terrorism in the disaster.

"There is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time," department spokesman Russ Knocke said.

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At 6:15 PM in the heart of rush hour on the bridge, things were going slow, there was a large crack under the bridge for about a year, suddenly, a rumbling ensued and the hundreds of people in their cars on the bridge began to see smoke rise, one man dived out of his car. The bridge buckled and collapsed as it fell into the Mighty Mississippi river, many drowning, some with only slight injuries but standing on a giant slate of bridge in the middle of the water, one piece of the bridge fell on a road under it, cars were smashed onto each other, compressed so much it would look like just one deformed car. Twisted steel was everywhere and people buried under rubble, one school bus full of kids 4-12 years old barely pulled to a stop, barely escaping from flying off the bridge into the Mighty Mississippi rivers depths, children were extremely traumatized and many people had to go to the Hennepin County Hospital for not only injuries but for consolation.

---Anonymous Source

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Wow, this is extremely bad, my mom was frantic calling people, this wasn't even from an Earthquake... sure looked it though... if you live in Minnesota or have friends/family in Minnesota/Wisconsin I'd recommend calling them =(. Anyone have this happen near them?

~NeciFiX
 
im watching it on TV right now. horrible
Alex
 
It's a shame because it's preventable. It happened in CT in the early 80s and, afterwards, the state went on a spending binge to make all the maintenance & repairs they had been deferring for years. Now it's getting like that again - huge amounts of money sunk into widening highways and laying new suburban roads, but little made available to maintain anything. Then the same people who, before a tragedy, choose to save dollars while looking the other way, will demand to know who's responsible.
 
Yeah I just saw it on TV... I heard something about people with jackhammers working on the road could have, and I use this word carefully, aided the cause of it?
 
Now it's 6 confirmed dead.
 
yeah thats bad i happen to be at my grandparents house in minneapolis on vacation right now and didnt even know it happened until my friend called.
 
OH MY GOD. We went over that bridge just LAST WEEK when we took a family vacation there to the mall of America and the science museum. We went up and down Interstate 35 twice a day to get between the city and the motel (it was a very nice one with wireless access and an all you can eat buffet, yum)


That’s more than just a little disconcerting, its downright scary
 
Now 7.
 
  • #10
Apparently 14 other people died falling into the collapsed mid section... I don't know if that 7 you mentioned is part of it, but, 14 died from just that. If those 7 are not part of that, then it's 21 dead, if it is, then it's 14.
 
  • #11
i live about a mile from the bridge, on century ave. i drive over that thing about 4 times a week! its so terrifying to see it so shattered now, when it looked perfect yesterday.

as for the construction workers with jackhammers potentially causing it, thats just not possible. bridges are supported by the trusses, not by the road over it. think of a very heavy piece of paper layed out over 2 pencils... jackhammers couldn't have caused this much damage.

but theres the interesting question- the bridge just went. it wasn't overloaded. in fact, a few of the lanes were closed due to the aforementioned construction work, and rush hour had already come and gone about an hour previous. it doesnt strike me as terrorism (theres no indication of this regardless), but what the hell causes a bridge to just "go" like that?
 
  • #12
i live about a mile from the bridge, on century ave. i drive over that thing about 4 times a week! its so terrifying to see it so shattered now, when it looked perfect yesterday.

as for the construction workers with jackhammers potentially causing it, thats just not possible. bridges are supported by the trusses, not by the road over it. think of a very heavy piece of paper layed out over 2 pencils... jackhammers couldn't have caused this much damage.

but theres the interesting question- the bridge just went. it wasn't overloaded. in fact, a few of the lanes were closed due to the aforementioned construction work, and rush hour had already come and gone about an hour previous. it doesnt strike me as terrorism (theres no indication of this regardless), but what the hell causes a bridge to just "go" like that?

There was a known crack in it a year before, but, we'll never know.

I live about an hour and a half or so from that bridge. Maybe 50-70 miles.
 
  • #13
heard something about people with jackhammers working on the road could have, and I use this word carefully, aided the cause of it?

The work being done on the bridge was re-paving. Furthermore, if the vibrations from a jackhammer could have even have had an effect on the structural integrity of the bridge, then it would have come down in the next good wind anyway.
 
  • #14
The work being done on the bridge was re-paving. Furthermore, if the vibrations from a jackhammer could have even have had an effect on the structural integrity of the bridge, then it would have come down in the next good wind anyway.

Ride your car on a bridge that would come down from building a windmill next to it, :( that's kind of scary.
 
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