by Mark Silva
A team of federal authorities has been dispatched to Minneapolis, scene of the bridge collapse that has claimed many lefts and left many more missing, with the White House saying that the Interstate 35-West span over the Mississippi River – scored at 50 on a recent inspection grading bridges on a scale of 1 to 120 -- appears to have suffered a structural failure.
“It appears to be structural failure, but obviously people are going to have to take a look at that,’’ said Tony Snow, the White House spokesman.
President Bush, who first learned of the collapse over dinner with the first lady at the White House last night, called aides who quickly determined from the Department of Homeland Security that no terrorism appeared to be involved. And Bush this morning telephoned the governor of Minnesota.
First Lady Laura Bush, who already had planned to travel to Minneapolis on Friday for a summer meeting of the Republican National Committee – the party is planning its 2008 presidential nominating convention in the Twin Cities – will join a bevy of federal officials descending on the area in the aftermath of the bridge collapse.
The highway bridge had been given a score of 50 on inspection in 2005 – 50 on a rating scale of 1-120, according to the White House. This does not necessarily mean there was a risk of failure, according to Snow.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) addresses the bridge collapse:
This also does not necessarily mean that the national system of inspecting bridges will be reevaluated. “It is not as if there is not a system in place,’’ Snow said. “We certainly don’t want people to believe that this is the rule rather than an exception. This is a tragic exception.
“People are going to be examining on a case by case basis what their needs are going to be,’’ Snow said.
“This morning the president made a series of phone calls. He first called Gov. Tim Pawlenty (of Minnesota) offering condolences. He said he knows what it’s like to be in the spotlight at a time of tragedy.’’
That was at 8:45 EDT this morning.
The president then called his transportation secretary en route to Minneapolis and asked for a report after her initial tour of the disaster site.
In addition, other representatives from the Department of Transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Corps of Engineers and the FBI have been dispatched to the site.
“We’re continuing to work the problem,'' Snow said.
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Comments
Maybe the do-nothing Congress will
take heed of the Dodd-Hagel proposal to develop a coordinated approach to infrastructure needs in this country like the Minneapolis bridge, instead of their
politically-motivated "earmarks" which waste billions on "bridges to nowhere,"
and other vote-buying nonsense.
Posted by: Sierra | August 2, 2007 10:03 AM
I hope that we can get some general agreement, no matter what our party or ideology may be, that infrastructure maintenance issues have not recieved the attention or funding that have been need for decades in this country.
Katrina and yesterday's tragedy in Minnesota show the dire consequence that can come about when these issues and problems are given too low a priority.
I'd love to hear from presidential candidates of both parties on how they will address the issue of out aging infrastructure at the federal level. (Remember, both he the levy system and the I-35 bridge are parts of the Federal infrastructure.)
Posted by: Tony | August 2, 2007 10:48 AM
The important thing to remember is the Iraqis are getting billions of our taxpayer money to rebuild their infrastructure.
Posted by: Paul | August 2, 2007 11:33 AM
Tony and Sierra are absolutely correct;infrastructure maintenance doesn't get the attention it deserves until a tragedy happens-where will the next one be?
Posted by: repete | August 2, 2007 11:41 AM
Sierra makes a great point.
Earmarks started with the present, Democrat-controlled Congress.
The bridge to nowhere was an earmark by a liberal Democrat, not a blessed Republican.
And the world is flat.
Posted by: a blinkin | August 2, 2007 11:52 AM
What was the temperature in Minneapolis yesterday?
Could it have been a minor form of heat buckling, that had catastrophic effects given the structural weakening noted in its last inspection?
Another global warming story?
Posted by: Jim Oliphant | August 2, 2007 11:54 AM
I agree with you Sierra. Say no to earmarks and yes to taking care of what we already have. Money much more wisely spent.
Posted by: John D | August 2, 2007 12:00 PM
Isn't the timing of the Dodd-Hagel proposal about the most ironic thing you ever heard?
Posted by: Doug Zook | August 2, 2007 12:01 PM
Perhaps instead of rebuilding the infrastructure of other countries we should put a little more emphasis on rebuilding our own.
Posted by: Steve | August 2, 2007 12:39 PM
How ironic that a bill addressing this very issuewas introduced yesterday. I think it's a great way to make us all safer and put people to work!We can replace the lost manufacturing jobs with new contruction positions.
Posted by: rje | August 2, 2007 12:48 PM
Tax dollars were spent on the new stadium, built for a billionare, instead of this bridge, built for the common folk.
Priorities are important.
Posted by: Jim Oliphant | August 2, 2007 12:51 PM
The American Society of Civil Engineers has been advising Congress for years on the state of the nation's infrastructure, and in particular the number of bridges that are in poor repair. Perhaps this tragic event will prompt Congress to understand that the reports are not just "crying wolf" and address the need for a national transportation plan. For more information on the ASCE report card on the nation's infrastructure, go to www.asce.org/asce.cfm
Posted by: rjb | August 2, 2007 1:05 PM
I believe the Governor of Minnesota recently vetoed the transportation bill????
Posted by: Scott Mortensen | August 2, 2007 1:07 PM
a blinkin - Earmarks did NOT start with the current Congress. They have been a part of the daily business of Congress since it's inception. This sort of uninformed comment out of left field is wholly inappropriate. Go work for Fox Noise.
Posted by: Eric | August 2, 2007 1:46 PM
Eric, blinkin is a loony lefty like you.
Jim Oliphant, oh my it was 90 degrees in Minnesota yesterday!!! Yikes!! Holy Cow!!! 90 degrees in Minnesota on August 1 in the middle of summer!!! Oh my, it must be GLOBAL WARMING!!!!! The average high around here is 85 and it hit 90 in the middle of summer!!!!! Oh my, GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!! Head for the hills!!!!!
Really, are you Loony Lefters this completely absorbed in perpetual stupidity-ville?
Posted by: John D | August 2, 2007 3:02 PM
90 degrees in full sun could very well cause buckling. Especially if they had skimmed off a couple of inches of deck to resurface.
A sheet of thinned concrete buckling in the center of the span could have exerted the necessary force to bring down the entire structure.
Just thinking, not just spewing.
Posted by: Jim Oliphant | August 2, 2007 3:28 PM
uhm... the bridge to nowhere was the work of Don Youn, a Republican... not a "liberal democrat"...
wtf?
Posted by: Anonymous | August 2, 2007 4:02 PM
Tony Snow, master of the obvious...
Posted by: Tedd | August 2, 2007 4:05 PM
Jim, let's refresh:
What was the temperature in Minneapolis yesterday?
Another global warming story?
Posted by: Jim Oliphant | August 2, 2007 11:54 AM
Sorry, to break the news to you, dude, but it is August, it is summer and 90 degrees is a regular phenomena in summer. Always has been, always will be.
Posted by: John D | August 2, 2007 4:09 PM
Yes, it was a "structural failure"-a structural failure of our government.
Back in 2005, 2008 presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul made this astute remark: "The whole process is corrupt. It just doesn’t make sense to most Americans to see their tax dollars used to fight an unnecessary and unjustified war. First they see American bombs destroying a country, and then American taxpayers are required to rebuild it. Today it’s easier to get funding to rebuild infrastructure in Iraq than to build a bridge in the United States. Indeed, we cut the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget and operate on the cheap with our veterans as the expenditures in Iraq skyrocket."
From:
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2005/cr040605.htm
And Obama wants us to move the battlefield to Pakistan! Doesn't he realize the real problems we need to fight are at home?
Ron Paul for president in 2008!
Posted by: Nunu | August 2, 2007 4:53 PM
Jim D....you've been drinking too much of that rethuglican koolaid.
Get a life...this isn't a "leftist" conspiracy. This is a bout a bridge that fell.
Posted by: Ruben | August 2, 2007 5:12 PM
To: Jim Oliphant
You should stop trading messages with Jim D. You're having a battle of wits with an unarmed person.
Posted by: Tedd | August 2, 2007 5:43 PM
Bridges in the Midwest are designed to take heat fluctuations from -30 degrees to 130 degrees with 50 degrees being the neutral design temperature. Trust me, it is not a heat buckling issue. There are also expansion joints in the bridges to handle these thermal effects.
Posted by: Structural Engineer | August 2, 2007 6:17 PM
Improvement - Another mess President Bush inherited and is cleaning up from his predecesor.
http://www.bts.gov/publications/transportation_statistics_annual_report/2006/html/chapter_02/table_l_09.html
Posted by: Terry | August 2, 2007 8:25 PM
We have comments, comments, comments...let's have commitments, commitments, commitments. Get the job done. Put real people in charge, not politicians, i.e. structural engineers. Actions not auditions.
Posted by: Ginethea | August 2, 2007 9:29 PM
The current thinking is that the bearings that allowed the bridge to move due to heat expansion and traffic load were rusted-frozen. If the bearings didn't allow for movement of the deck surface due to heat expansion, then when that expansion occurred,it would have pulled on the underlying structure, against the frozen bearings.
Sort of sounds like what happened, doesn't it?
I'm not a structural engineer, but I've crossed enough expansion joints to know they're there for a reason.
Posted by: Jim Oliphant | August 2, 2007 10:07 PM
Erector sets, with hundreds of thousands of mechanical connections, exposed to harsh elements, subjected to extreme physical forces, and built by humans, will eventually fail. Perhaps, we may offer the opportunity, to those who truely understand the complexity and science of our infrastructure, to direct the process of our continued safety.
Posted by: pat driscoll | August 2, 2007 11:51 PM
I love Ruben and Tedd. While trying to say how dumb I am, they call me Jim D, not John D.
And all this while they believe 90 degrees in August in the middle of summer is a global warming phenomena!
Hey Ruben and Tedd, I know reading and comprehension are two things Loony Lefties like you are incapable of, but really, go back to Day Care, if they'll take you.
Posted by: John D | August 3, 2007 9:21 AM