Dude, who are you? I graduated from Coon Rapids!!!:rock: :rock: :rock: Class o' 90!:rock: :know:

Anyway, local news:
www.wcco.com
www.kstp.com
www.startribune.com

live radio feed
http://webclust1.liquidcompass.cc/so....php?id=KSTPAM


That bridge is down town, near Uof M

http://wcco.com/slideshows/local_sli...9/view?slide=0

:hmm: What part of town?

Federal highways and bridges are state and fed.
State highways secondary and primary and bridges are state.
Rail is a combination of Railroads, State, and Feds.
Cities would be responsible for their own infrastructure with federal help.
But, whenever any state and some local work needs doing they can usually get some sizable grants from the Feds. However its like pulling teeth to get the states to spend the money because politicians don't want to pass the cost in taxes because they want to keep their jobs.
It's the same in all politics, "Let someone else worry about it" but not them.
Obviously there are a lot of ifs, ands, and buts to everything.

:roll: ????
Don't worry waste gate it takes longer then six years to get this way.

I, too, had driven over that bridge many, many times over the last 25 years or so, though not recently, and thankfully not yesterday.

Things feel surreal today ... everyone around here seems a little disconnected. I imagine it will become a lot more tangible for me the first time I have to drive into the downtown area hereafter, and get to experience firsthand the traffic nightmare that central Minneapolis is going to be for at least the next couple of years.

My thoughts are with anyone who was on that bridge last night, and with their families.

God I hate that. Just suck it up people! They're taxes! The way I see it is its better that the government waste 90% of the cash in corruption to build a highway than a corporation do it at a fraction of the cost cause at least I can vote out the pr1ck in government that would want to make me pay toll. Whenever people get frisky about a tax increase that costs them a buck or two a year, or even worse saves them that little, I just want to shoot myself. Either go live in a third world nation where the government doesn't pay for anything except for your state sanctioned murder or just lobby the pr1cks to tax the rich for a fraction of what they really owe society. Even the most insane right winger has to admit that the rich get away with murder in proportion to the average person in terms of taxes.

So billions and billions flow through the middle east from tax-payer's pockets to the barracks of "allies" but a bridge somewhere in the heartland of democracy falls apart cause someone likes sitting on his ass in the state legislature... I know who's fault that is, and no waste gate it ISN'T the left wing.... or government... or the COMMIE-NAZIS!!!!!!

ITS YOU PEOPLE! *points at everyone with his middle finger*

:rotfl:
I think I had a catastrophic build up up pink-commie energy. Not enough... insane topics... need to vent polemic pressure... wheres AL when... you need her?

Just been watching the Channel Four UK news about this, and they had someone from the main civil engineer governing body in the UK commenting on it, stating that the bridge is fairly unusualy in its construction, although there are apparently quite a few like that in the States.
More interestingly, it had footage of the local mayor commenting on the fact that the bridge in this tragedy, had been surveyed two years previously, and the report actually stated that it was 'structurally deficient', although with the caveat that it was not in danger of collapse, but needed to be observed and that it required remedial action to guarantee its structural integrity.
As someone previously stated, this is a problem with much of the US transport system's infrastructure, and the same could be said for much of the UK, where many bridges and such date back to Victorian times. In a slightly related matter, a quick trip to most railway stations in the UK will reveal that much of the cast iron structure of a lot of UK railway stations is in dire need of replacement or repair, although in recent years, this does seem to be receiving some attention, and it has actually been sorted at the train station in my home town as well as in the nearby city of Manchester.
Obviously this event is a real tragedy for any of the victims involved in the bridge collapse in the US, but equally obviously, there is no doubt that their trust in the people responsible for the upkeep of that structure has proved to be sorely misplaced, and if I was a relative of one of those killed, I'd be very, very pissed off with those who had responsibility for the bridge's upkeep.

:D Chock

The closest I can say is it was the part of town my house was in. I was between the ages of one and six. At that age ones world is very small although it doesn't seem so at the time. To give some more perspective; the bridge that collapsed hadn't been built yet when we moved to Dallas, TX in 1966.

1966! Was that before or after the wheel was invented?:rotfl:

I say put them murdering scumbags sitting on they're asses in prision on the flipping chain gangs again hacking weeds,cleaning up stuff and doing manual labor to help repair the crumbing infrastructures....under shotgun 24/7 of course....they gave up they're rights when they committed felonys...man that pisses me off about that stuff...how did my country get to where it is....we probably are waiting for China to come over here and build our stuff for us...put them and all the illegals who want to earn a modest wage or whatever to work and solve some freaking problems...if the egyptians built pyramids with slaves think of what can be done now with the actual brute force labor at our disposal.

If someone is responsible for not maintaining the bridge then i'm sure an investigation should prove it. Perhaps they will be charged with negligence which should involve a manslaughter charge.

Unfortunately I doubt that will happen.

If anyone found guilty in hindering the problem of the bridge for any personal gain, then the one should be prosecuted.

However, I've to emphasis is that, government shouldn't put civilians' lives at stake in order to save $$$. From the previous reports, we learnt that the bridge suffered mechanical failures years prior to the collapse. Had government initiated replacement / maintaince earier, the problem should be eliminated and unable to claim several lives. :up: Hope that further accidents will not pop up after learning a valuable, yet expensive lesson

Theres this lady in town who lives next to a little bridge, and shes the type a person who exagerates everything, like if a nail breaks she has to go to hospital or some such... I bet after this shes wrapping that entire bridge in duct tape.