My wife and I recently (one year ago) re-located from the Twin Cities where we had lived for twenty five years to Wichita, Kansas. I worked for several railroads in the area and at one time the Minnesota Commercial whose tracks show in the photos of the collapsed bridge. The track in question was a part of the old Great Northen mainline but in recent years only served the Pillsbury A Mill, the oldest mill in Minnesota. Prior to it's closing a few years ago, I used to run Alco RS-18 roadswitchers underneath that bridge and gaze out at the Mississippi as we switched the mill and thought of all the mainline passenger trains which used to operate on that right of way. I believe the covered hoppers are part of truck transload operation and the tank car which has a severe dent in its side, was not damaged by the bridge but received the dent prior due to improper unloading of the car a long time ago. It was just stored at that location. We still have kids, grandkids and many friends all who are okay in the "Cities" and it has tough to concentrate on railroading today. Our hearts and prayers are in Minneapolis. Barry
Did I read that some 40 bridges were "structurally deficient" after inspections in 2005? What is structurally deficient... sound like a politically correct term for UNSAFE. How many are traveling over unsafe bridges on their daily commute? What kind of bureaucracy have we set up for ourselves that we are unaware and uninformed of these sorts of dangers and or "deficiencies"?
Check out this video I found! http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=269d4173-f486-44a9-b94b-2e53bc4b54b9&t=m10&f=06/64&p=Source_Today%20Show&fg=>1=10252
I'm going to merge this into a similar topic in the Railfanning Discussions forum and leave a link from The Cattle Car to it. :computer: :computer: :computer: :computer:
One issue I'm sure to be investigated would be the maximum loading of the bridge. Trucks are now heavier and causing more stress to bridges as well as the increasing traffic density on bridges. It was reported here that 40,000 bridges in the USA have a similar deficient rating as the bridge that collapsed. I assume it would be rated as deficient to current standards but doesnt necassarily mean the bridge is unsafe.
i Knew you guys were going too be talking about that on here because it fell on a hopper a tank car and some tracks
Quote: One issue I'm sure to be investigated would be the maximum loading of the bridge. Trucks are now heavier and causing more stress to bridges as well as the increasing traffic density on bridges. It was reported here that 40,000 bridges in the USA have a similar deficient rating as the bridge that collapsed. I assume it would be rated as deficient to current standards but doesnt necassarily mean the bridge is unsafe. Absolutely. This bridge, built in the late sixties, was probably handling about twice as many vehicles as it was designed for. And remember, cars and trucks are larger today than back then. A word about words. There is no engineering term "unsafe". Just as you are unlikely to find the term "this patient is going to die" in medical records. Experts couch their words carefully. To paraphrase the TV show: "There is never a single reason for a disaster." I expect that to be the case here. Frank
Wasn't the bridge under repair with lanes closed? Was asymmetric load considered in the evaluation? Or did they consider that with asymmetric load that total weight would be reduced because of lane closure? That might not be true if it became a static load (all the traffic stopped). Just what are the factors considered in the evaluation?
That will indeed be considered. As will the fact that this year's bridge inspection was not completed. They decided to wait until said repairs were finished. Might have been a mistake. Might not have made a difference. Frank
I cruised through the thread and didn't find any direct links to this photo, sorry if I missed it but I thought it told the tale about what happened to the tracks and railcars.... http://bp0.blogger.com/_TWDIyi5pqlc/RrFPH_-idqI/AAAAAAAABH4/WDTQ-9ae6eI/s1600-h/L1020078.jpg
I was watching Kare11 coverage, and they said there was no damage to the "chemical tank cars" that would put the public at risk.. Nice investigative work :err:
