CNN has video of the bridge collapse as it happens...

[Archae]

At their wet site:

http://www.cnn.com/

:scared:

[AndyA]

1. Is that the video from the security camera?

Chilling, to say the least. You realize there was nothing anyone on that bridge could have done to save themselves.

I know many of our bridges here in Oklahoma are in need of replacement as well. Now I'm trying to figure out a way to and from work that will keep me from driving on or under a bridge. I don't think there's a way to do it. :(

[Archae]

2. Yes it is.

[ShaneGR]

6. Look into how your state handles its inspection process...

I'm from Ohio originally. Ohio has more bridges than any other state. Each bridge is inspected on a yearly basis. From what I read that bridge in Minnesota hadn't gottten an inspection an inspection for three years.

[Sweet Freedom]

3. It's one of those scenes

where it happens so fast, but at the same time, seems to last forever.

[KharmaTrain]

4. This Could Have Been A Lot Worse

I was reading up on the bridge design...which is unique. It's a single-span with no supports in the middle of the river...thus when the bridge collapsed it went down as one big chunk (which is what the video showed)...straight down into the water (you see the splash) that would have broken the fall moreso than if there had been a center support and the road broke away from there...which would have sent cars off the pavement and into the water, then the bridge ontop of them. Either way a gruesome scenario.

I get a feeling the design will be the problem...as it relied on four supports on either end to distribute the weight and the fatigue and vibrations could have created small stress factures in critical places that "resonated" between the heavy traffic and construction work. It would be similar to a fracture that appears on a jet pylon that will pull the engine away.

What I fear is this is a FEDERAL highway and bridge...not one that the money to maintain this bridge...along with many, many others...ended up diverted to the Iraq fiasco or some other booosh regime boondoogle. Normie Coleman's re-election may have fallen into those rapids last night along with those unlucky people.

[Strelnikov_]

5. ..