[Rhodes22-list] Hey Slim - New Bridge

[Brad Haslett]

Slim,

I'd offer my help to the injured families but I just got notice today that
my company is being sued by the one of the 'injured' parties of our truck
accident 04JAN07.  We lost the truck, $20K, and lots of other expenses.
They, the 'injured' party, went to the same hospital as my driver and walked
out about the same time as he did a few hours later. Right now my sympathy
meter is in the yellow range.  I promise to be more understanding in a few
months. I'm  going to the Gulf tomorrow and will catch-up on the rest of the
world's problems later. God forbid I be insensitive to victims!

Brad

On Jan 17, 2008 3:42 PM, Steven Alm <stevenalm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yup, the report from NTSB Chairman, Mark Rodenker came out yesterday and
> the
> current administration (chastised for cutting bridge maintenance funding)
> is
> jumping for joy because now they think nothing could have been done to
> prevent the collapse since inspectors look for deterioration and not
> design
> flaws.  Personally, I'm not ready to let them off the hook that easily.
>  It
> seems to me that the undersized gusset plates alone did not cause the
> fall.
> It had to have been a combination of any number of problems like exceeding
> the load limit by way more than it was built for back in the 60s, frozen
> roller bearings meant to move with heat/cold expansion/contraction (it was
> 91 degrees that day), lack of engineering redundancy, and yes, corrosion
> and
> cracks in the gusset plates and elsewhere, missing bolts (?!) and so on.
> The bridge did indeed have a safety rating of "critical" and should have
> been closed.  Already one head had rolled but Gov. Pawlenty still has a
> lot
> of slpanin' to do.  The finger pointing continues.
>
> Then there's the issue of how the new bridge builder got the contract.  It
> was all done on the QT behind closed doors.  Many saw a chance to put up a
> big, bold statement of memorial along the lines of our beautiful Hennepin
> bridge:   http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/bridges/pages/ms19.html<http://www.visi.com/%7Ejweeks/bridges/pages/ms19.html> but no, we're
> getting an understated flat ribbon.
>
> Meanwhile, the families of the 13 dead and 100 injured have received
> almost
> no help from anywhere.  That's an outrage!  Most of those families are
> devastated and need and deserve our support.  Congress stepped up and sent
> some $250M for rebuilding but nothing is going to the victims.
>
> Stay tuned for plenty of drama yet to unfold.
>
> Slim
>
> On Jan 17, 2008 9:36 AM, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Slim,
> >
> > You might find this article on the MSP bridge interesting.
> >
> > http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4245065.html
> >
> > My brother called this one correctly fifteen minutes after it happened.
> >
> > Brad
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