Nationwide bridge inspections ordered »
Posted by: Alexia 1 year ago137 Comments Report this Story
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters notified state transportation departments Thursday to immediately inspect all bridges of the same design as the one that collapsed Wednesday in Minnesota.
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LordyLordy1 year ago
The bridges are getting old. Many were built in a time when there was not as much car traffic as they have now, the trucks were lighter, carried lighter loads, and they didn't have 40 years of corrosion on them. Many were built with the tehnology at the time.
I never felt safe going over the Golden Gate Bridge nor the Coronoda Bridge in San Diego. I kept asking myself "Were all of the workers sober that day or were they suffering from a hangover or the flu?"
The fall doens't hurt you. It's that sudden stop at the bottom.
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Bkumm1 year ago
Exactly right. AHHHHH!!! Bridge collapsed! People died (those poor families)!!! Must spend millions (if not billions) on something we're already supposed to be doing!!!
IDIOTS!!! You know, if I screw up, most of the time the only person that gets hurt is me, if these guys (just government in general) screw up A LOT of people get hurt or killed.
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE???!!!!
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LordyLordy1 year ago
After the great earthquate in San Francisco, they tried to tighten the standards but policitians from all ilks relaxed them. I think they are in as much danger today as they were in 1906.
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DrDash1 year ago
I was going to post the same thing. It is sad. Found this on in a news article on AOL news
"More than 70,000 bridges across the country are rated structurally deficient like the I-35W bridge, and engineers estimate repairing them all would take at least a generation and cost more than $188 billion."
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Goppy1 year ago
Im not much of a news hound - cause - you know - them libearals controal our thoughts with their domination of ABC, FOX and everthang else. But I heared on the news that we could fix all the bridges in the US if we spent $750 Billion a year for the next 10 years.
Now I know whut some of you liberals and poeple of commen sense are gonna say ... maybe ifn our Goerge W. Bush werent spendin $10 Billion a month building bridges in Iraq, we could address this problem at home.
And maybe you might say - ifn he hadnt given them rich fiends of his all that money back on taxes - that mayube that could help too.
But Im here to tell ya - no way. Being true to ideeological vision is important. No way us citizens are more important than buildin bridges, hospitals, and providin health care to Iraqi citizens!! They are part of our world wide ideeological efforts.
And dont tell me maintainin bridges is a national security issue. Thats just twistin the facts to suit the truth.
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coreyspring1 year ago
I'm not entirely sure how effective this is: federal regulations mandate that these bridges be checked once every two years; and many state guidelines require them to be checked every one year.
It's a move that looks good, but in reality the Minnesota bridge was known to be structurally deficient two years ago. This move is going to frighten people more than anything
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david_nwpa1 year ago
Most of the bridges in this nation are not structurally safe for the high volume and increased mass of much of the traffic that crosses our thoroughfares. We need not only to inspect our bridges and roads, but provide adequate solutions beyond patchwork repairs. Consider the case of the I-280 bridge in Toledo, Ohio. For years it functioned fine as a drawbridge, but no longer fit the needs the city faces today. Ships could not easily pass the bridge without obnoxiously disrupting traffic. The bridge went way over budget and collapsed twice, killing 5 people the second time it fell. Sloppy engineering and cost overruns were responsible.
In short we need to build more bridges of high grade steel that are solidly reinforced to withstand strong currents and have sufficient support structures and concrete pilings as a backup.
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LordyLordy1 year ago
"Actually strike that - it was known to be structurally deficient 17 YEARS AGO in 1990."
So was one of my Aunts...
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twangster1 year ago
This is a tragic result of the user pays mentality in this country. ( "Why should I pay for the other guys stuff?" )
Social responsibility, humanism and the common good all seem to be frowned upon as leftist ideals ... until there is an event like this.
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JohnQPublicComment removed: User banned.9 Replies
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Ruggaboo1 year ago
Perhaps now is the time to order ALL bridges and overpasses to be inspected?
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HanymanComment removed: User banned.
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Ratskii1 year ago
The trouble is that our bridge (Minneapolis) was inspected during each of the past two years. The engineers thought that there was no possibility of a catastrophic failure. This means that there is something the bridge inspectors aren't taking into account. Until they figure out what that unknown is, inspections will be next to useless.
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sinophil491 year ago
Wouldn't it be nice if we could get back the $470 billion dollars squandered in Iraq and apply the funds to bridge and levee repairs in our own country? Yet another consequence of Bush's mis-begotten war. I hope Bush and all the neocons are now coming to realize what a catastrophic war this is. As things stand now, even if the US forces started to stand down today, we will still end up spending at least 1 trillion dollars on Iraq. Apparently, it is just as expensive to withdraw as it is to engage in war. And this is called a conservative estimate. If the war is prolonged or there are unexpected complications, the cost to the country could be -what?- 2 trillion, 3 trillion?
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geezer661 year ago
It would be better if the feds and the state of Minnesota would spend the taxpayers' money on roads and bridges instead of mass transit projects. The dems that run the MN legislature have misplaced their priorities.
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saneman1 year ago
The light rail in the Twin Cities has been a godsend. Get the cars and trucks off the roads in the cities. Outlaw all cars in any downtown area of any city especially single occupant vehicles. We can't wait until the northwest light rail corridor is finished in the Twin Cities. The south light rail has surpassed all predictions. I can't imagine any fool would want to drive their car into downtown Minneapolis from the south.
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palamaComment removed: User banned.
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enrique21 year ago
Instead of blaming each other I think we should do something for the victims.
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vor1 year ago
A bit late for that...we will just borrow the necessary funds from the Chinese as we always do...this might be GW's only chance at a legacy beside the black mark that will recall Iraq. Maybe he could at least get his name on a sign by a highway. Maybe they could print it in Chinese.
His real legacy will come home to our next generation.
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BLKEDU1 year ago
yea lets compare this to katrina in New Orleans. Did bush send any condolences to the victims families? Did the media try to find heroic stories? Was bush on his way within 1 day? Less than 50 people die and the media trys to turn this into an "American tragedy". I could care less.
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sumptuousdigs1 year ago
Condolences are little comfort, especially when information surfaces that shows a disaster might have been avoided.
'Knee jerk' is the right phrase. Any more, it's become painfully obvious that this is the way safety and security issues are met.
I'm glad Hanyman counted union busting and the scuttling of regulatory laws in the mix. Those with the user pay mentality, and might refuse to use air transportation, would be just as dead if a jetliner slammed into their house while they were sleeping. I live in the United States of America, not in the United States for sumptuousdigs.
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saneman1 year ago
It was reported this morning in the Startribune that the Department of Transportation was well aware of the seriousness of the bridge in Minnesota. The structure had severe and critical fatigue cracks in the structure and that they looked into using steel plates to strengthen the structure but CHOSE TO DO NOTHING!
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JohnQPublicComment removed: User banned.
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cheif1 year ago
It is another very sad fact the DOT has allowed the trucking industry lobby to get increases in the amount of weight each truck is allowed to carry. These huge semi trucks are 99% responsible for the destruction of our highway infrastructure.
If you don't believe me, check out the New Jersey Turnpike - two of them - one for cars, the other for semis/trucks. The car part has never been resurfaced - no need to; however, the other part looks like a minefield and is continually being repaired.
These truckers have absolutely no conscious or consequence for what they're doing - the more weight, more money is the only thing they're looking at. On a very hot day you can see them turn the road to mush.
Is there anyway we can stop this? No would probably be correct, after all, it's about money...and politicians that can be purchased for a penny on the million...
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djrevelky1 year ago
West Virginia is the having the same problem. The Democrat legislature gave themselves a $10,000 pay raise instead of funding highways. In a move of genius, the Democrat governor decided since they wouldn't give him increased money the DOT is going to do ZERO matienence on the WV Turnpike next year.
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Bkumm1 year ago
Two things:
First of all it is Democratic not Democrat. It would be like saying Repub instead of Republican.
Secondly, how many legislators are there in the West Virgina legislature? 134 legislators if I counted them correctly. Giving each of them a $10,000 pay raise amounts to: 10,000 x 134 = 1,340,000. Do you know what it costs to do a mile of two lane highway? I don't know exactly either, but this PDF from Wisconson:
http://service.govdelivery.com/docs/WICLARK/WIC...
Shows that at best it is about $250,000 per mile. So, by voting a pay raise the Democratically controlled legislature kept about 5.2 miles of highway from being built.
Rhetoric is fun, but the truth will set us free.
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joeblowe1 year ago
I must issue a correction here. The problem with overweight trucks is (usually) NOT the fault of the guy behind the wheel. He's just the steering wheel operator. It's the dock foreman that LOADED the trailer that is responsible. But it IS correct to state that it is done for financial reasons. If you can squeeze another pallet onto a trailer, and do that 20 or so times, you have just saved your company the cost of one entire truckload. Containers that are coming from overseas are routinely overloaded - same reason only more so. Intermodal containers (move on a train or ship before being trucked to destination) are also often overloaded as the rails and ships don't have the same weight limits. Bottom line: Don't blame the truck driver. Unless he is supervising the loading of the trailer, it is absolutely NOT his fault.
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DrWatson1 year ago
Correspondent asked Bush if Federal funds will be available for transportation bill....Bush replied..I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!!
Which means...no $$$$$$ for our vital infrastructure.
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joeblowe1 year ago
It is already known that here in Illinois a certain percentage of the 28,000 or so bridges in the state are "deficient" according to the LAST inspection results. Of course, guber B'vitch has INSTANTLY ordered the re-inspection of all bridges in the state that resemble the one in Mpls in any way. Why he has done this...??? Purely political. He has to LOOK as though he is "taking steps" to insure nothing like that happens here. It's all B.S. So far, the cause of the Mpls disaster isn't even known - so how do those inspectors rushing frantically out to do a panicky re-inspect even know what, exactly, they are looking for? They ALREADY KNOW there are bridges that are structurally "deficient." Instead of inspectors, it would make a lot more sense to send out CONTRACTORS! Dumbas*es!
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Lavb54741 year ago
The fact of the matter is here our money is wasted. I don't know about others here, but when I pay taxes, I feel that i am paying for the following: Police, Fire, Public Works, Schools and Military. Now can one of you tell me if just one of these is running efficiently and efficiently funded. Govt rakes in billions, but yet the roads are like riding on washboards??? And I don't blame it one salaries either. At least the working class who work in govt. A regular police officer, teacher, firefighter, etc. I thin it's just plain old corrupt govt. It's always been there but now it just seems to be morally ok. In my town ( I am a town meeting member) I'll bring up subjects like this and i'll get moans and groans. In my town alone i happen to know there are over 100 fire hydrants out of service no one bats a lash. However we can spend 3 hours talking about what color to paint the local jungle gym.
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IForgotMyUsername21 year ago
yeah well congradulations. your one of the few people of this country who arent oblivious to the problems with our government. the rest of course will, just as you said, moan and groan, when people like you i question the actions of our government. i dont ever see changing and i dont believe there will ever be a thing we can do about it. im almost at the point where i will say screw it and let it go. live life and forget about everything in this world that is corrupt, theres to much already to have it change anyhow.
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Bkumm1 year ago
So, let's browse through this document from 2002 (yes, that's five years ago for those of us paying attention.
"Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges, and Transit:
2002 Conditions and Performance Report"
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2002cpr/ch11.htm
Now, we can't look specifically at this bridge, but why do we pay for reviews, boards, Congressional hearings, reports and all of that other hoo-haw on a regular basis and then whenever anything happens we have to pay for a bunch of stuff we're not going to pay attention to anyway all over again? Why? Can anybody answer that question for me?
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IForgotMyUsername21 year ago
oh boy. nothin like a tragedy to get everyone scared to death and trickin them into thinkin theyre gonna die!
nation-wide bridge inspections.... f***in please....
just so you all know i am rolling my eyes as we speak.
netscape is such a f***ing scare-tactic... this site is full of stupid bullsh**. have you seen www.isp.netscape.com ? check it out. look at some of stupid crazy bullsh** they put on there. its so ridiculously stupid you cant stop reading.
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jzinkjazz1 year ago
here is some thing to think about--ALL GOVERMENT CONTRACTS ARE AWARDED TO THE LOWEST BIDDER--- THINK ABOUT IT
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aniokly1 year ago
Every budget has appropriations for Intrastructor. The states use it for anything but. It goes into the General fund, and they use it for social programs, to buy votes. We would have to spend 1.6 Trillion dollars to do it all with Federal funds. The minnisota bridge was declared in need of serious repair in 1990. Nothing was done.
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Alexia
Documentary filmmaker, interactive mediaist, with a background in theatre and writing. Avid non-fiction reader.
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