Strib: Inspectors wanted bridge replaced, warned of “severe” corrosion, “widespread cracking”
posted at 10:35 am on August 8, 2007 by Allahpundit
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Read all of this one as they don’t get around to mentioning until page two that there were no new cracks after 2001 and that expert opinions about the urgency of repairs diverged. But even with that caveat, and even knowing as we already do that the bridge had been rated structurally deficient, this is amazing:
State bridge inspectors warned for nearly a decade before its collapse that the Interstate 35W bridge had “severe” and “extensive” corrosion of its beams and trusses, “widespread cracking” in spans and missing or broken bolts.
Not only was the superstructure in poor condition, but certain components were “beyond tolerable limits,” and one of the bridge’s piers had “tilted to the north,” they reported.
By 2000, the inspectors wrote that “eventual replacement of the entire structure would be preferable” to redecking the bridge. They added: “If bridge replacement is significantly delayed, the bridge should be re-decked.”
That recommendation was repeated in every report afterward, but it never happened.
Tim Pawlenty’s defense is that no one ever recommended closing the bridge. True, but follow the link and see what the inspectors had to say about “immediate maintenance recommendations.”
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How many fingers will be pointed at how many people?
Who here besides me believes no one will step up and take responsibility?
rightside on August 8, 2007 at 10:40 AM
I would like to have a grade sign posted on each bridge.
Just like the ones at restaurants.
I would turn around for an F rated bridge. Or I would not follow a line of dump trucks across it.
faraway on August 8, 2007 at 10:44 AM
Why would anyone stand up and take the blame?
It’s government, they don’t have to and no one wants to.
Can’t lose their phoney baloney jobs…
benrand on August 8, 2007 at 10:50 AM
Stunning and tragic negligence.
Jaibones on August 8, 2007 at 10:55 AM
Someone suggested the bridge needed to be replaced by 2020. That person should asked why he picked that date and why since the opinion was so incompetent, why should we trust his judgement in regards to other bridges.
volsense on August 8, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Curse you Booosh!
Lehosh on August 8, 2007 at 11:01 AM
if the bridge wasn’t safe…it shouldn’t have been in use. That is more important than saying we should have fixed it. If a bridge gets this rating it should not be used…not brain surgery. If you don’t have the funds…to bad…look at the results.
tomas on August 8, 2007 at 11:09 AM
Anybody who drove on DC’s old Woodrow Wilson Bridge (1964) in its last few years of existence can appreciate that recommending to close a bridge and actually being able to do so are two different things. The old Wilson bridge far traffic far exceeded that which it was designed for yet… the alternative was to disrupt vehicles traveling I-95.
In short my point is simply that it is well and good that inspectors want to shut down a bridge but the political and logistical reality may dictate otherwise.
highhopes on August 8, 2007 at 11:12 AM
highhopes, put a sign on that bridge that says “Built 1964, Grade F” and see what kind of political pressure develops.
faraway on August 8, 2007 at 11:22 AM
Here, restaurant health ratings are required to be prominently displayed in the window. Maybe, they need something similar for bridges? That would get people’s attention. lol
Blake on August 8, 2007 at 11:28 AM
Have the Twin Cities become a mecca for lawyers yet?
infidel4life on August 8, 2007 at 11:41 AM
It’s all rope-a-dope and CYA now. Just watch as professional beaurocrats stonewall this investigation. In the end they’ll just blame God.
Mojave Mark on August 8, 2007 at 11:41 AM
If you know the bridge needs to be replaced, and you don’t expect the traffic level to decrease, of course it’s better to do it SOONER than LATER.
Logistics has nothing to do with it; it’s all politics: as long as the bridge holds out through the next election, it’s all good.
logis on August 8, 2007 at 11:43 AM
It’s an interesting scheme but in the case of the Woodrow Wilson bridge, the political pressure came from the unbelievable traffic jams. It still took years to get a new one through all the wickets including the planning, building and environmentalist protests that we should just carpool more instead of building, etc.
There is also a question of funding. Where do you think the public would come down when a state has to choose between building a new bridge and funding teachers raises? I don’t know the answer to that question, just asking.
highhopes on August 8, 2007 at 11:45 AM
Question…
Is it up to the Fed to get repairs or replacements started, or is it up to the states, even the cities to get it done?
Mazztek on August 8, 2007 at 11:47 AM
The article gives the impression that state officials didn’t know how bad it was — that the bridge had never gotten a consistent F grade at all. Some Bs and Cs, and maybe those bolts would have gotten an F but the article doesn’t say anything about how important they were (or weren’t) — so maybe the reports didn’t make that clear either. An engineer would know, but would a state governor?
It doesn’t sound like money was the issue. It sounds like nobody (or nobody who could do anything about it) realized how bad the bridge had gotten.
kate q on August 8, 2007 at 11:50 AM
Tell me again how GWB is responsible for this?
apostle53 on August 8, 2007 at 11:52 AM
None of this really matters. Global warming caused this; I know this because I read it this morning. All the bridges across the country will be collapsing any day now.
bopbottle on August 8, 2007 at 11:54 AM
Lawsuits filed in 10…9…8…7..
Viper1 on August 8, 2007 at 11:55 AM
They keep reporting torrential rains in NYC. Is it wet where you are, Allah?
Blake on August 8, 2007 at 11:57 AM
Ya Know… This should surprise none of us.
The way we treat safety people in our cluture as Chicken Littles by mocking and ridicule them when problems like this are reported is telling. And then someone has to die before we take the warnings serious.
Accidents like this are often our own damb fault for prioritizing other things like building a new football stadium instead of maintaining the bridge that accesses the stadium.
Head should role over this. And probably will. But probably not the heads that should.
Lawrence on August 8, 2007 at 12:04 PM
Clearly the subjective opinions of engineers and bureaucrats are not reliable. An objective set of inspection and compliance standards must be established for nationwide use and enforced with criminal sanctions for fudging inspections or repairs.
Try this during your next OSHA inspection: “Sure that ladder’s a little wobbly, but we plan to keep an eye on it.”
T J Green on August 8, 2007 at 12:06 PM
That bridge would still be standing today if George W. Bush had signed the Kyoto Treaty and not followed his oil masters orders to go to war in Iraq!
Queasy on August 8, 2007 at 12:41 PM
Many on the left want to blame President Bush, Gov. Pawlenty and other Republicans, but these warnings came in 2000. Who was POTUS in 2000? Governor? And who has typically controlled the Minnesota legislature? More inconvenient truths for the liberals to gnaw on (and ignore).
JinxMcHue on August 8, 2007 at 12:44 PM
He’s responsible for everything? Didn’t you know that? And history began on January 20, 2001.
JinxMcHue on August 8, 2007 at 12:45 PM
No, no, the evil dictatorship began then. Before that, we lived in an idyllic paradise. Children flew kites. Bridges stayed up. Terrorists were incompetent, and easily dealt with by our court system. Wars were only for humanitarian purposes, and held from thousands of feet up. People held hands and sang. And it was all thanks to a wonderful man named Bill.
Splunge on August 8, 2007 at 12:52 PM
Ouch! I overslept and then cut myself shaving…
DAMN YOU BUSH!1!
Kensington on August 8, 2007 at 12:57 PM
And a humidor was as close as the nearest chubby intern.
Kensington on August 8, 2007 at 12:59 PM
franksalterego on August 8, 2007 at 1:08 PM
Out here in Seattle they want to take away the express lanes on one of the bridges to put in a train. The catch is the bridge was designed for only slightly more weight than the train, and this would be the only train in the world running over a floating bridge. What could possibly go wrong?
pedestrian on August 8, 2007 at 1:12 PM
I stand [er, sit] corrected.
JinxMcHue on August 8, 2007 at 1:17 PM
The bridge was safer seven years ago, twenty years ago and thirty years ago. This problem is that the Minnesota transportation people ignored warnings that the bridge was unsafe.
All management and workers responsible for this disaster should be terminated and marked as unsafe for all U.S. transportation work, unless they want to tote a flag and wear a vest while directing detouring traffic.
Blaming Bush is part of another coverup (like ignoring warnings about the safety of the bridge) and keeps morons in jobs crucial to public safety. Even if Bush was removed from office, you would still have stupid in the Minnesota transportation department.
saved on August 8, 2007 at 1:18 PM
This is funny. DU trog complains about someone stealing media he stole:
Fred Thompson Right Wing Extremist STOLE My Video I Made For The Bridge Collapse & Edited The Audio!
“His” video
Video’s comments (in which he’s already taken a severe beating)
JinxMcHue on August 8, 2007 at 1:20 PM
Since the day after the bridge fell, the Strib has been looking for a scapegoat. Columnist Nick Coleman wrote a column the next day stating that if we were not spending billions in Iraq, the money could have gone to fixing this bridge. There was a spat of letters on friday blaming the Governor for vetoing a tax increase, the tax payers league for pushing for no tax increase, and again President Bush. The Strib is not going to rest until they have shifted public opinion into blaming republicans or conservatives for this disaster.
coyoterex on August 8, 2007 at 1:43 PM
Have the Twin Cities become a mecca for lawyers yet?
infidel4life on August 8, 2007 at 11:41 AM
There are so many vultures( lawyers) flying overhead here, it’s darkening the sky. Regarding the issue of replacing in 2020,these criteria were recommendations that were countrywide. There will be a reckoning , I’m sure, as the evidence and facts of the collapse come forth. It’s going to take alot of time to figure it out. They just ran the computer sensor data off the bridge on Monday. Here, we’re focusing on the PEOPLE that were injured and missing. We still are. It’s amazing to us how the rest of the country reacts and the story is reported. Wonder how any of the pundits would fare in the positions of responsibility of the people they are putting the spotlight on. I wonder.
MNDavenotPC on August 8, 2007 at 1:43 PM
They didn’t have to close it. Just institute weight restrictions. That would save wear and tear on the bridge, and let the public know it wasn’t the safest bridge around.
B26354 on August 8, 2007 at 2:59 PM
Of course. The Star & Sickle has yet to meet a Republican, tax cut or spending cut they didn’t hate.
Perhaps if Minnesota didn’t waste so much money on their stupid light rail line that nobody uses but the Star & Sickle drools over, they could’ve fixed the bridge. See? I can play that game too, komrades at the Red Star.
Hollowpoint on August 8, 2007 at 3:00 PM
“So…did this happen because of incompetence, laziness, or negligence?
Not that anyone is going to get fired. We just need to know so we can have a hearing.
–Your Goverment Officials
Zach on August 8, 2007 at 3:03 PM
Yea, because no on would have been able to afford the gas to drive and overload that bridge. ;-)
Mazztek on August 8, 2007 at 3:22 PM
Any structure built in the presence of moving water is subject to erosion. All the structures built in the Mississippi river are constantly monitored for evidence of this erosion. In the post is the comment:
That tells you exactly what happened, and the administrating agency responsible for that bridge ignored it.
What more than that do you need to know?
When was the last river bottom survey of that pier conducted?
What did the initial river bottom survey report when the bridge was first proposed?
How many other bridges have not had foundation surveys, or bottom surveys conducted in the last 10-20 years?
On a trip across Texas in the late ’90’s, somewhere out in the sticks, traffic on the freeway encountered a detour. If you are familiar with Texas freeways, you know there is a light duty access road immediately adjacent to, and parallel with the freeway. All traffic was being diverted from the freeway to the light duty access road, and heavy truck traffic was tearing that light duty road to pieces. The reason for the detour was overnight heavy rains, and flash flood had washed away the soil around a freeway overpass bridge pier. That pier was not supporting the bridge deck, rather the bridge deck was holding up the bridge pier. This kind of problem happens, regularly, and it can not be ignored, you have to deal with it. It doesn’t matter the size of the bridge, nor the cost, you have to fix it. or one day the bridge falls down.
rockhauler on August 8, 2007 at 3:51 PM
Amen, rockhauler.
Heads should roll.
Christoph on August 8, 2007 at 4:08 PM
Let’s not jump the gun- I’d still wager that it was no coincidence that the collapse just so happened to occur while there was construction work being done. It was inspected just a couple years ago, and the damage wasn’t deemed severe enough to warrant closing or replacing the bridge.
Still- whoever is responsible must be held to account, including those who should’ve been overseeing those responsible.
Hollowpoint on August 8, 2007 at 5:11 PM
re: “lets not jump the gun” . . .
That construction was cosmetic repairs to cracks in the bridge deck, cracks that were symptoms of structural failure in the foundation.
Obvious, now that the bridge has fallen down.
Before that event, one can make any argument one desires, after the fact, you have to accept the evidence that can no longer be denied, or argued away.
Before the event, one expert’s opinion is just as good as any other expert opinion. After the fact, somebody was right, and somebody was wrong. There is no “jumping the gun” here, the [expletive deleted] bridge collapsed.
rockhauler on August 8, 2007 at 6:46 PM
It’s complicated, but I’ll try:
1) the bridge collapsed because, compared to twenty years ago, Americans now have tremendous fat *sses,
2) we all have fat *sses because all of our friends have tremendous fat *asses (see HotAir thread here),
3) our friends all have tremendous fat *asses because of our “instant gratification” culture that is sadly lacking in self-discipline and is hopelessly addicted to McDonald’s french fries,
4) McDonald’s french fries that are
a) served to us by an army of illegal aliens (who drive over our bridges but couldn’t care less if they collapse),
b) made out of poisonous potatoes grown by the “the vast right wing conspiracy” of corporate farms that are the sucking-up all of the land in the world and causing real estate prices to soar, which motivated the greedy bankers to act unwisely, which precipitated the current collapse in the mortgage banking industry,
c) fried in poisonous animal fat that can be used for no other purpose than this since the greedy oil companies don’t want us using bio-diesel or any other agricultural product to power our automobiles,
5) oil companies controlled by Dick Cheney who is the cause of all warfare and terrorism on planet earth, who doesn’t give a rip about global warming, and who wants to continue making money, no-matter-what, all-the-while global temperature increases intensify at an exponental rate,
6) global temperature increases orchestrated by Karl Rove, by means of evil sorcery, the same Karl Rove that uses his evil genius and dirty tricks to steal elections from poor innocent Democratic candidates, the same Karl Rove that utters his evil incantations in order to intensify global climatic disasters (like Katrina), in order to bring calamity down on predominantly black communities and states like New Orleans and Mississippi, in order to fully satisfy his master, George Bush, who doesn’t care about black people (donchaknow),
7) which, of course, are ALL clever diversionary tactics used by Booooosh in order to keep ANYONE from thinking or talking about gay RIGHTS.
So. Now. Does that clear things up for ya’?
/sarcasm off
No need to thank me. Just bein’ neighborly.
CyberCipher on August 8, 2007 at 7:07 PM
Perhaps the pertinent question is why the policy of officials apparently is wait until they are warned there will be an immediate collapse and they must close the bridge before they actually plan to replace it.
Resolute on August 8, 2007 at 7:47 PM
They can’t keep a bridge standing with all the money we “give” them, a core responsibility, and we see this tragic failure. And next they want to take over health care. Oh joy.
Maxx on August 8, 2007 at 8:00 PM
CyberCipher on August 8, 2007 at 7:07 PM
Yeah… but what does your collie say about this ?
Maxx on August 8, 2007 at 8:03 PM
Great point !! But I don’t begrudge the people that will file lawsuits over this, they deserve whatever they can get because this kind of thing should just NEVER happen. But of course we the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for whatever the settlements are.
This is gross negligence on the part of our public officials. Look at this mess, look at the economic loss to the Twin Cities area because this bridge is out of service, look at the number of people killed or injured, think of what this is going to cost in settlements to those people and after we pay all of that money we still have to pay even more to re-build the bridge.
All of this because government ignores its prime responsibilities, yet they always want more and more authority, more and more money. What do you suppose would happen to any private industry that got this many people killed ? Think of the swarms of OSCIA agents that would descend that business and that business would be out of business. Somebody would probably go to jail.
Do you expect any government officials will go to jail ? This is sickening and horrible and like I said before, these ninnies what to take over healthcare. If we let them, we’re nuts.
Maxx on August 8, 2007 at 8:24 PM
No… they will blame us… the taxpayers for not paying enough taxes. Even though a stroll through the budget would produce plenty of instances of pork and waste, the socialist never sleep, we will get the blame.
We spent four billion dollars on global warming research last year and the year before that and lesser amounts going all the way back to the early 1990’s. All of that money for a total fraud. How many bridges would that have built ?
How about the money we give to the useless and corrupt UN that stoled food and medicine from the women and children of Iraq through the “Oil for Food” program…. and let tens of thousands be slaughtered under it’s auspices in Rwanda. Because they were too busy, according to Kofi Annan. I think our budget to the UN each year is several billion, money flushed down the toilet, to support a pile of third-world socialist snakes that hate our guts. Maybe we should strike that from the budget too.
Not to mentions hundreds of do nothing useless programs, dozens of useless and oppressive departments and agencies. But no matter…. we will get the blame.
Maxx on August 8, 2007 at 9:02 PM
But who cares about the bridges… let all the bridges fall down… because here’s a REAL emergency where the money is needed !!
The U.S. House Members’ Gym Needs an $8 Million Upgrade
Maxx on August 8, 2007 at 11:25 PM
Ever hear of Federalism? Try it out. Let the States figure out their own issues. If someone wants a crumbling bridge, let them keep voting their state officials into office. If someone wants a secure bridge, have them vote no-nonsense type of people.
We don’t need more Federal Government. Good Lord! As soon as a death occurs everyone, including “conservatives” (like you), call for more federal standards and expansion.
Tim Burton on August 9, 2007 at 12:27 AM
My collie says:
CyberCipher on August 9, 2007 at 10:55 AM
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