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Minneapolis Bridge Collapse


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I've pretty much been freakin out all night, trying to call people and see if everyone I know is ok.... Still trying to get a hold of some people, friends, but I know my family is fine.... What a horrible awful thing! I know I've been over that bridge many many times!!

My thoughts and prayers......

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Thankfully, this could have been much worse.

I think the bridge was limited to one lane of traffic in either direction, and it was bumper-to-bumper at the time. Just think if all four lanes in either direction were travelling at freeway speeds! Not only would there have been almost 3X - 4X the amount of cars on the bridge, but I'm sure there would have been some massive pile-up accidents on either side.

God Bless.

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I got a call from my brother in-law and his wife who were on their way to a St. Paul Saints game but thankfully were not on that bridge. I was on that bridge 10 yrs ago and you don't think what would happen if the bridge comes down when you are on it. I hope and pray that the death total is stopped and no more lives were taken. My heart and prayers go out to all the people and families affected by this tragedy. :silly:

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Just got a phone call and Ed Schultz just blamed the bridge collapse on President Bush, he actually said that it is his fault. Can someone please take morons liek this out. Eddie you are by far the biggest idiot on the planet. I wish he would take a long drive off a short bridge.

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My heart goes out to those affected by this tragedy. The news is now reporting that only four people are dead but that is expected to rise.

Snake- that is all I kept thinking when they said that it had construction going on. Another thing, is think if it had gone down with school in session this fall for the U of M. How many other cars would there have been on there?

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My heart goes out to those affected by this tragedy. The news is now reporting that only four people are dead but that is expected to rise.

Snake- that is all I kept thinking when they said that it had construction going on. Another thing, is think if it had gone down with school in session this fall for the U of M. How many other cars would there have been on there?

At 6:00 pm? Not many. It doesn't get much busier in that area than 6:00 pm on a night when the Twins are playing at home.

I think everyone in the area knows someone who drives across that bridge at some point during the day. Hearing some of the stories on the news last night was awful. One survivor was talking about walking on the river bank and seeing a dad frantically screaming out loud while searching for his 8 year old daughter.

May God bless the victims, both dead and injured, and their loved ones.

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So I was thinking.... If this bridge wasn't over a river, say it was over another interstate or highway like many bridges in the Cities are, there would probably be more fatalities and injuries right? I'm not saying that it isn't a tragedy as it is, but things could always be worse right?

Still waiting to hear from some friends....

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So I was thinking.... If this bridge wasn't over a river, say it was over another interstate or highway like many bridges in the Cities are, there would probably be more fatalities and injuries right? I'm not saying that it isn't a tragedy as it is, but things could always be worse right?

Still waiting to hear from some friends....

Things can always be worse. Four won't be the total death toll. The fact that there are any survivors at all is a miracle.

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Just got a phone call and Ed Schultz just blamed the bridge collapse on President Bush, he actually said that it is his fault. Can someone please take morons liek this out. Eddie you are by far the biggest idiot on the planet. I wish he would take a long drive off a short bridge.

Why not give credit where credit is due? Under Bush state funding for infrastructure has decreased every year while funds are diverted to Halliburton's bank account for the war in Iraq. Couple this with Pawlenty and the legislature's obstinance on the gas tax and you have a MNDOT that's woefully underfunded. Our bridges and roads don't maintain themselves and yesterday was a sad reminder of what happens when you let them decay.

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Why not give credit where credit is due? Under Bush state funding for infrastructure has decreased every year while funds are diverted to Halliburton's bank account for the war in Iraq. Couple this with Pawlenty and the legislature's obstinance on the gas tax and you have a MNDOT that's woefully underfunded. Our bridges and roads don't maintain themselves and yesterday was a sad reminder of what happens when you let them decay.

It's not like people didn't know about the bridges "potential."

It scored a 50/100 and was claimed Structurally Deficient.

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And yet, on tonight's NBC Nightly News, they said that the number of structurally deficient bridges in the country has declined over the past several years. I wonder whose fault that is?

Edit: Good editorial on the gouls whose first impulse is to politicize a tragedy.

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It's not like people didn't know about the bridges "potential."

It scored a 50/100 and was claimed Structurally Deficient.

GIve credit, what the hell are you talking about. Did you blame the righteous one Bill"try this cigar" Clinton when that bridge collapsed 10 years ago. I doubt it. It collapsed and we do not know why yet. I think it was in very poor taste that Ed"the idiot"Schultz would blame someone and start trying to blame the president while they are still trying to recover bodies. What an incsesitive ass. Unfortunatly, Palenty is going to get the people going after him. Everyone bitches about gas prices and then what if he would have signed that bill. People wold have blamed him for raisiing the gas even higher. It was truly a lose-lose for the Gov.

Ed needs to take a step back and shut is cake hole or in my opinion take a long drive off a short cliff.

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GIve credit, what the hell are you talking about. Did you blame the righteous one Bill"try this cigar" Clinton when that bridge collapsed 10 years ago. I doubt it. It collapsed and we do not know why yet. I think it was in very poor taste that Ed"the idiot"Schultz would blame someone and start trying to blame the president while they are still trying to recover bodies. What an incsesitive ass. Unfortunatly, Palenty is going to get the people going after him. Everyone bitches about gas prices and then what if he would have signed that bill. People wold have blamed him for raisiing the gas even higher. It was truly a lose-lose for the Gov.

Ed needs to take a step back and shut is cake hole or in my opinion take a long drive off a short cliff.

Make no mistake there is more than enough blame to go around. Why shouldn't we blame those public officials who are charged with protecting us? It's their job isn't it? This bridge didn't fall down because of some natural disaster or horrifying accident. It fell because of neglect and incompetence by those in positions of leadership. It fell because for the past 10-15 years the people we've elected have put tax cuts, corporate handouts, entitlements, and massive defense spending ahead of our safety. What good is a long drawn out war supposedly for our protection if the bridges we drive on everyday give way, letting us plunge to our deaths? Why should we spend millions to build a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, if we can't even take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of one that serves a metro area of nearly 11 million people? It's not politicizing the tragedy, it's taking a step back looking at what happened and saying "How in the hell could anyone who could have done something about this have let this happen."

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Make no mistake there is more than enough blame to go around. Why shouldn't we blame those public officials who are charged with protecting us? It's their job isn't it? This bridge didn't fall down because of some natural disaster or horrifying accident. It fell because of neglect and incompetence by those in positions of leadership. It fell because for the past 10-15 years the people we've elected have put tax cuts, corporate handouts, entitlements, and massive defense spending ahead of our safety. What good is a long drawn out war supposedly for our protection if the bridges we drive on everyday give way, letting us plunge to our deaths? Why should we spend millions to build a bridge to nowhere in Alaska, if we can't even take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of one that serves a metro area of nearly 11 million people? It's not politicizing the tragedy, it's taking a step back looking at what happened and saying "How in the hell could anyone who could have done something about this have let this happen."

What's concerning in all of this is Gov. Pawlenty boasts of a surplus in MN. We have a surplus and then something like this happens because we did not invest the money and address the problem. I'm not blaming him, but I have a feeling things are going to get awfully ugly in the state of MN within the near future because MNDOT has been underfunded for quite some time.

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What's concerning in all of this is Gov. Pawlenty boasts of a surplus in MN. We have a surplus and then something like this happens because we did not invest the money and address the problem. I'm not blaming him, but I have a feeling things are going to get awfully ugly in the state of MN within the near future because MNDOT has been underfunded for quite some time.

I still do not think that you can blame a specific administration. As you said there is blame to go around. This has nothing to do with the war. This bridge was not scheduled to be replaced untill 2020. The engineers make that call not a President or Mr. Pawlenty. I just think it was a tradegy and people need to stop for a minute and pray for the famlies and stop trying to make this a blame the republicans situation or even blame the dems. It just makes no sense to me.

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and to think minneapolis and hennepin county residents will be putting $350M into a baseball stadium... priorities ladies and gentlemen.

You're comparing apples to oranges. That baseball stadium will bring revenue back into Hennipen County and the State of MN, and is an entertainment venue that people have deemed important to the MPLS ecomony. Funding bridges and road costs is a fundamental gov't budget issue. We pay taxes to cover these costs. If we have a surplus, we obviously have extra money to go towards these costs. Education is no different. We are cutting education funds and programs left and right. This is a budget shortfall, plain and simple. Maybe we should worry about the infrastructure of America before we dump all the money on the infrastructure of Iraq.

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I still do not think that you can blame a specific administration. As you said there is blame to go around. This has nothing to do with the war. This bridge was not scheduled to be replaced untill 2020. The engineers make that call not a President or Mr. Pawlenty. I just think it was a tradegy and people need to stop for a minute and pray for the famlies and stop trying to make this a blame the republicans situation or even blame the dems. It just makes no sense to me.

This has everything to do with the war. We have pumped $600 billion into that war. Where does that money come from??? It comes from cutting in other areas. CNN reported today that MN needs $9 million per year to adequately fund their road and bridge repairs, but we are spending $2.5 billion. There's a reason why we are $6.5 million short, if indeed the figures from CNN are accurate. In addition, schools across America continue to cut teachers, programs, and classes. Cost goes beyond money, it extends into loss of education and services such as proper roadways.

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This has everything to do with the war. We have pumped $600 billion into that war. Where does that money come from??? It comes from cutting in other areas. CNN reported today that MN needs $9 million per year to adequately fund their road and bridge repairs, but we are spending $2.5 billion. There's a reason why we are $6.5 million short, if indeed the figures from CNN are accurate. In addition, schools across America continue to cut teachers, programs, and classes. Cost goes beyond money, it extends into loss of education and services such as proper roadways.

Even if the war was not going on, this bridge would have still come down. Let me re-state this and maybe you will understand this time. It was not scheduled to be replaced untill 2020. That was not a deision that Tim Pawlenty made or President Bush, it was according to the engineers and the way the rate the bridges. If you need me to spell it out simplier I will, but I think an adult should be able to comprehend that.

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Even if the war was not going on, this bridge would have still come down. Let me re-state this and maybe you will understand this time. It was not scheduled to be replaced untill 2020. That was not a deision that Tim Pawlenty made or President Bush, it was according to the engineers and the way the rate the bridges. If you need me to spell it out simplier I will, but I think an adult should be able to comprehend that.

Speaking of spelling, "If you need me to spell it out 'simplier' I will, but I think an adult should be able to comprehend that. ....and "deision" as you put it are a couple of words you missed on. Now, away from hooked on phonics and back to the discussion. From coast to coast, there are deficient bridges across america. Do you actually think the reason for that is because all states lack qualified DOT members. Maybe if the proper funding was there, we'd have the appropriate people evaluating damage and they wouldn't have to push construction projects back until the year 2020. Please, splell it ouuut four me one moor timmme.

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