Bridge Repair on the Cheap

Photo by Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune

Divers continued recovery efforts Friday at the scene where the I-35W bridge collapsed.


Minneapolis Star Tribune: MnDOT chose 'most cost efficient' of 3 options

In lay terms, they picked the cheapest fix. Bridge fell down. You get what you pay for.

How Many Bridges in Your State Are 'Structurally Deficient'?

ABC News: Minn. Bridge Collapse: Survivors' Photos
A side view of the I35 W after it buckled into chunks.
(Kimberly Brown and Kelly Kahle)

MSNBC has posted a chart that shows bridges that are "structurally deficient" for all 50 states:

MSNBC: State by state: 'Deficient' and 'Obsolete' Bridges

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are the worst with over 50% of bridges "structurally deficient" or "functionally obsolete".

For Massachusetts, that's what 20 years of tax-cutting Republican governors gets you.

Security Camera Records Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Minnesota Bridge Collapse

The collapse left vehicles scattered along the rubble of the bridge.

Photo: Heather Munro/Star Tribune, via Associated Press


CNN interviewed the Minnesota governor this morning, and he said well, this bridge did show structural issues in an inspection last year, but there are 80,000 other bridges in the country with the same level of deterioration; and that's not the worst ranking. Apparently there's a list of tens of thousands of other bridges that are even more structurally deficient.

ABC News says that more than a quarter -- 27% -- of the country's 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient:

According to the Center for International and Strategic Studies, more than a quarter of the country's bridges are structurally unstable. A federal report in 2005 said Minnesota's Interstate 35W bridge was structurally deficient and may need to be repaired.

Ron Beasley at Middle Earth Journal puts it this way:

[W]e should be looking at the revenue starved collapsing infrastructure of the United States. A much greater threat than al-Qaeda could ever be.

And why is our infrastructure revenue starved? It's the crazy Republican fetish for tax cuts. And the absolutely insane Iraq war, where we will spend more than a trillion dollars according to the Congressional Budget Office. Imagine if we had used that money to repair our crumbling infrastructure. Some people in Minneapolis might be alive today.

Massive Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

This video frame grab taken from KMSP television shows the scene of a freeway bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. The entire span of the 35W bridge collapsed about 6:05 p.m. where the freeway crosses the river near University Avenue. (AP Photo/KMSP-TV)

WaPo (AP): Bridge Falls Into Mississippi River

MINNEAPOLIS -- The entire span of an interstate bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending vehicles, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.

The Interstate 35W bridge, a major link between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was in the midst of being repaired when it broke into several huge sections.

"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

I heard a Minnesota-based Foxbot talking to Shepard Smith about the bridge collapse. She said, in essence, that she didn't know if this was a factor, but Minneapolis has been in the grip of a heatwave all summer. They quickly took her off the air!

The collapse is much more likely due to the fact that it's a 40 year old bridge (opened in 1967) which, when inspected in 2006, was found to have "cracks in bridge superstructure that needed attention."

Best comment on the bridge collapse, from commenter xxdr zombiexx at dailykos:

Things crumbling was a hallmark of Soviet-era incompetence and dereliction of duty.