I 35 bridge collaps in Minneapolis

[psycln11]

Originally Posted by ornryactor

POOR: Of those, eight are rated so poorly that they may need to be replaced. Among those eight, six are "structurally deficient" and two are "functionally obsolete."

"Structurally deficient" bridges typically have weight restrictions posted on them. General use of the bridge is OK for daily traffic, but today's farm equipment is getting heavier and tearing up the County road system. The roads and bridges simply weren't designed to handle the loads that farm equipment is allowed to carry. Farmers are excempt from having to get permits like a typical trucking company to use the County's road system.

"Functionally obsolete" bridges are those that do not have adequate lane widths, shoulder widths, or vertical clearances to serve the traffic demand or those that may be occasionally flooded

From the below link...

Many bridges in Iowa are over 50
years old. These bridges were
designed for lower traffic volumes,
smaller vehicles and lighter loads than
are common today. Over 20 percent of
Iowa’s county bridges are classified as
deficient and need to be rehabilitated
or replaced.

Many of these bridges
are deficient because their load
carrying capacity is inadequate for
today’s traffic.

http://www.dot.state.ia.us/bridges.pdf

[brianhos]

Originally Posted by psycln11

Many bridges in Iowa are over 50
years old. These bridges were
designed for lower traffic volumes,
smaller vehicles and lighter loads than
are common today. Over 20 percent of
Iowa’s county bridges are classified as
deficient and need to be rehabilitated
or replaced.

Many of these bridges
are deficient because their load
carrying capacity is inadequate for
today’s traffic.

http://www.dot.state.ia.us/bridges.pdf

Well that makes me feel safer.

[throwittoblythe]

Originally Posted by cyclonekj

After a tragedy like this, there are many things that need to have priority over finding a scapegoat for the failure. Does finding someone at fault restore any of the lives lost?

Yeah...I'm going to have to go ahead and sort of, disagree with you on that one.

I think no matter the tragedy, you need to find the person(s) responsible so you can hold them accountable. I'm not saying we should find a scapegoat; they need to find out why the bridge failed and who was responsible. If someone made a huge error that caused this to happen I, for one, certainly don't want them working with any more bridges.

What you're saying is that no one should be held accountable for crimes. A bridge collapsed and people were killed, that in itself is bad enough, but we need to find who was responsible to determine if it could have been prevented.

[cyclonekj]

Originally Posted by throwittoblythe

Yeah...I'm going to have to go ahead and sort of, disagree with you on that one.

I think no matter the tragedy, you need to find the person(s) responsible so you can hold them accountable. I'm not saying we should find a scapegoat; they need to find out why the bridge failed and who was responsible. If someone made a huge error that caused this to happen I, for one, certainly don't want them working with any more bridges.

What you're saying is that no one should be held accountable for crimes. A bridge collapsed and people were killed, that in itself is bad enough, but we need to find who was responsible to determine if it could have been prevented.

You serious, Clark?

A crime?

[pulse]

The deteriorating state of bridges around the country has been known for years and years. When budgets cuts have to be made, transportation is great target because it requires so much money and nobody cares if they take millions of dollars and move it towards other higher profile things.

This was a tragedy, but I'm sure a bigger and better bridge will come out of it. I wouldn't worry about it being a rush job. When things like this happen, a ton of money gets thrown at it. There are a lot of contractors drooling right now about the money that is going to be thrown out.