I35W Bridge Collapsed in Minneapolis

[BrianGriffin81]

StangerBanger96;179269 wrote:
In reality its just that everything necessary for the bridge to collapse happened at the exact same time. For all we know it could be there was a crack in the support, the water had eroded away more soil or whatever around the pillar, the train going by caused vibration that somehow when combined with the cars overhead and the jackhammers all added up to create a single wave with a HUGE amplitude that helped destroy the rest of that already cracked support which led to the collapse. None of those alone could have brought it down but when they all added up at that single point in time it did the entire bridge in.

We will really never know, the best we can do is say that the DOT and whoever else's investigation will give us a very good guess as to what led to the failure.

I agree with you 100%, I just don't agree that jackhammer(s) could cause anything to be remotely related to it though however, after my own research, and after consulting with 2 PE's (Certified and work for a firm located in the same building)

[assasain]

i think we should leave it alone till something is released

[Guest]

Nor do I say that they CAUSED the bridge to collapse. See my one in a trillion probability. Does no one read entire posts around here? Especially people who like to think they know the answer to everything? NOWHERE do I state that I think they were directly responsible. They may not have even added to the problem. So before you criticize my physics, I suggest you recheck your reading comprehension.

[StangerBanger96]

tjamz;179272 wrote:
Nor do I say that they CAUSED the bridge to collapse. See my one in a trillion probability. Does no one read entire posts around here? Especially people who like to think they know the answer to everything? NOWHERE do I state that I think they were directly responsible. They may not have even added to the problem. So before you criticize my physics, I suggest you recheck your reading comprehension.

But thats what makes this website so fun is all the people that read the first 6 words and then reply...

[Guest]

BrianGriffin81;179270 wrote:
I agree with you 100%, I just don't agree that jackhammer(s) could cause anything to be remotely related to it though however, after my own research, and after consulting with 2 PE's (Certified and work for a firm located in the same building)

Great, you just agreed with the same thing that I said before: > tjamz;179162 wrote:

The jackhammer alone could not take down the bridge, this is 100% true, but IF the jackhammer where causing reverberation across the entire bridge at precisely the right frequency AND if the cars were traveling at the exact right speed to amplify/spread the vibration across the bridge there is about a 1 in a trillion chance that it could have AIDED in the falling of the bridge

I guess I didn't add the vibration of the train and the addition of the water potentially eroding the pillars/silt, but I assumed some of this would be assumed since I said that AT MOST the jackhammers aided in the falling, not caused it. Either way, I'm fairly certain that the jackhammers are more likely to aid in the falling than preventing the fall.

[Guest]

StangerBanger96;179273 wrote:
But thats what makes this website....

No, JIM made this website....geez!

[DaveH]

The PE's here said it was the fat lady in the blue minivan farting that caused the bridge to go down. You know, resonant frequencies and such.....

[assasain]

DaveH;179286 wrote:
The PE's here said it was the fat lady in the blue minivan farting that caused the bridge to go down. You know, resonant frequencies and such.....

see obesity is a problem in the US

[Guest]

DaveH;179286 wrote:
The PE's here said it was the fat lady in the blue minivan farting that caused the bridge to go down. You know, resonant frequencies and such.....

Could be...could be....

[StangerBanger96]

DaveH;179286 wrote:
The PE's here said it was the fat lady in the blue minivan farting that caused the bridge to go down. You know, resonant frequencies and such.....

Did you hear the story about that blue minivan? The guy survived 2 accidents...let me go find the story...He is paralyzed from a previous accident and was just getting on the bridge when it collapsed.

Here it is:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/03/bridge.collapse.paraplegic/index.html

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- Seven years ago, police in North Carolina covered shooting victim Marcelo Cruz with a tarp, believing he was dead. He wasn't. Cruz survived the street fight shooting, but was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Marcelo Cruz, paralyzed in a street fight, survived the bridge collapse.

The Mexican native rebuilt his life, and at 26, was living in Minneapolis, driving a specially equipped van so he could get around the city.

That's what he was doing Wednesday when he drove onto the Interstate 35W bridge just after 6 p.m., only to see the bridge in front of him start to shake -- and in a few short seconds, tumble down.

Cruz saw 10 or 20 cars in front of him plunge into the water. He applied the brakes, but on the now-sloping bridge deck, he couldn't stop. Video Watch Cruz recount his harrowing experience »

"I thought I was going to die," he told CNN.

But he wasn't afraid, he said. He just thought about what he needed to do and how to do it. How to stop a car if the brakes don't do the job?

Cruz swerved, and plowed his van into the concrete guard rail. It worked -- the van stopped, less than 15 feet from what was now the end of the bridge before it dropped into the Mississippi River.

Now trapped in his van on the bridge -- unable get out because of the sharp angle -- Cruz said he heard a woman screaming from below. Then she stopped. See a diagram of the bridge »

"I really felt hopeless because I couldn't do anything," he said.

Finally, two rescue workers saw him and helped him reach safety. About 15 minutes after the bridge collapse, he called his mother, Ignacia Cruz, and told her to turn on the television. He just wanted her to know he was OK.

Ignacia Cruz spoke to CNN quietly in her native Spanish.

"God and the Virgin Mary saved my son, because otherwise he would have tumbled into the water with all the other cars," she said. Photo See photos of the disaster »

"I began to cry and cry, because this was the second time he was saved."

On Thursday, after surviving his second brush with death, Cruz was stoic.

"You really have to enjoy every day," he said, "because you don't know if it's your last."

Here is the van (just copied the link from stangnet, a guy on there added the "shit" caption)

[LivinLow]

look at the shit streak from that porta potty! what if there was a guy in that?

[probe this]

LivinLow;179292 wrote:
look at the shit streak from that porta potty! what if there was a guy in that?

Some could say that "he had the best SEAT in the house." You might just shit yourself if that happened under you.? That is really terrible to see this happen. I was in cali when the semi-tanker crashed and melted the overpass near oakland at the beginning of may. What are the odds? Maybe they'll make a bigger bridge beings all the main arteries in the cities can't handle the amount of cars driving through during rush hours.

[MisterCMK]

probe this;179405 wrote:
Maybe they'll make a bigger bridge beings all the main arteries in the cities can't handle the amount of cars driving through during rush hours.

I sure hope so. The need to go 10 or 12 lanes wide on it. This is an opportunity (not one that we wanted) that cities rarely get. They will be able to completely rebuild the bridge. Lets do it up right and make sure that there is plenty of lanes as traffic will only get worse as time goes on.