My sister is up in MN this summer but thankfully she was no where near the river or this bridge.

I hope they've found everyone :(

I haven't been able to get in touch with a friend of mine who lives there. I hope it is just because the lines are tied up. He never turns off his cell...

correcting myself. silver bridge, over ohio river, collapsed in 1967, should have googled it. it was before my time. yesterday's collapse prompted phone calls between my mom and friends still living back there (ohio). my older brother, although just a kid then, remembers my mom staying up all night when the silver bridge went down, calling people in her hometown trying to find out how everyone was. the father of one of her school friends died and a friend of hers was on bridge, and survived.

with the drivers going in today in minneapolis, prayers again for that city.

I remember hearing about that bridge collapse. They had a 25year rememberance thing when I was in college. They showed all of the old news reports.

I cannot imagine what it is like to be looking for a family member. I don't know what would be worse- knowing that they were gone, or not knowing either way.

This is so scary...

My sister lives in Minneapolis- she contacted us by email right away to let us know her and her boyfriend were ok. No one could get through when trying to call her due to the phone lines being jammed. She doesn't travel that highway daily for work- but travels it at other times to get around town. Her boyfriend on the other hand drives that way home from work everyday- he decided to stop and get a drink after work last night- so we will never know if he would have been on the bridge when it collapsed...and I am happy to never have to know!

*Thinking of those who have lost someone in this tragedy. May God be with them at this difficult time.*

Trafficland (a web traffic camera site) has a live camera aimed right at the bridge-I have to wonder it anyone was viewing it last night:
http://www.trafficland.com/#start

If you're interested, I posted a link to some Silver Bridge information earlier in this thread. (on page 1)

ETA that two things occurred to me. Earlier, I said that the Silver Bridge collapse was on Sunday. I thought that because I was working at the radio station mostly on weekends at that point. The disaster actually was Friday, December 15. That would make sense, because I volunteered to work at the station over Christmas Break that year so another staff member could go home and see his family. The collapse happened just after 5:00 PM, so everyone else had gone home for the day.

Second, it struck me that the 35W bridge was completed and opened to traffic in 1967 -- the same year as the Silver Bridge collapse.

KARE-11, a local TV Station, has several cameras aimed there with better vantage points if you know where to click.

http://www.kare11.com/travel/traffic/

Click on the tab that says "Cameras" and then anywhere on 35 between 94 and 36.

Minn. Bridge Problems Uncovered in 1990
 

Minnesota officials were warned as early as 1990 that the bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River was "structurally deficient," yet they relied on patchwork repairs and stepped-up inspections that unraveled amid a thunderous plunge of concrete and automobiles.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6005140/

I just found the CNN video showing the collapse:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/...f=mpvideosview

That video is pretty phenomenal. I wonder was it taken from the North or from the South? The North side fell first, right?

I heard from my friend. He is ok! He actually went over the bridge just 1 HOUR before the collapse!!!

Glad to hear that.....


And DeltAlum...tried to quote part of your post, zapped it away.
This is a small world getting smaller. Re: Gallipolis, Point Pleasant.
My mom and aunt are heading for a cruise (which sounds good in this stupid heat). Will ask when they get back. My dad was from a big family, but he died awhile back, and after my parents divorced when I was pre teen, the connection with his side of the family was lost. I hear that many in his family are now in Cleveland and (??) newark.

I spent a summer with my grandparents, also deceased, before going into high school. Their house faced a park in town. It is ridiculous how lacking in family history I am.

This is a complete misrepresentation of what those words mean to actual civil engineers.

Just saying.

"State transportation officials were warned as early as 1990 that the 40-year-old bridge was "structurally deficient" and in need of major repair or even replacement.

Federal inspectors gave the same forecast in 2005, but state engineers say the span was not slated for replacement until 2020.




I don't know what they might mean to a civil engineer, but I'll bet a lot of judges and juries are going to hear them in the not too distant future.