i think it went, "no way i just went over that bridge an hour ago and it was just fine," that and not trying to make this sound bad or anything but "what timing" also went through my head

so did you but a lotto ticket. I can't imagine what that felt like.
And, if they found stress fracures last year, why the added weight of the construction vehicles for resurfacing? Don't make no sense to me.

See, this is where it gets when there'* nothing else to report. Little things get blown out of proportion.

Neither the study last year or the year before showed any strees fractures. The bridge was OK'ed through, I believe it was, 2020. They were just doing resurfacing, which gets done a LOT in MN due to plowing and the salt they still use here (instead of pavement/concrete friendly chemicals).

The construction actually saved a lot of lives. Two lanes each direction were closed to traffic. If they weren't, that bridge would have been packed 8 lanes across and moving much faster....

My thoughts exactly!! This is horrific news. I have family in the area but we haven't gotten a call from anyone telling us bad news.

You're quite right John.

I'm starting to consider it could have been footing issues. They may have inspected the steel understructure and concrete topping, but did anyone inspect erosion issues at the shoreline or the concrete caissons in the water?

Steel gives long and evident warnings when its under severe stresses.

There were no footings in the water, Jim. And the NTSB and Secretary of Transportation just got here this morning. First priority, of course, was to ensure it was safe to start recovery operations. It'll be days if not weeks before we hear what did cause it.

The only guess I've heard from any of the experts the last couple of days was that routing all traffic to the two outermost lanes in one direction went beyond the load the bridge was designed to handle, causing it to twist some. Sounds to me like a real outside chance, but still...

The main thing I don't like is people (including the news) taking information that'* been pretty thoroughly explained (here anyway) and twisting the facts (such as they are) to fit their personal agendas and point fingers. The anti-establishment people are going to exaggerate the reports so that they can blame the government. The Republicans will blame the Democrats, and vice versa.

Until we have some facts, I wish "we" could all just look at it as the tragic freak accident it probably was, and let the experts do their jobs. Once they have, we should act accordingly then.

I can't argue with anything you're saying John, it all makes sense.

Based on this picture, I would have assumed the bridge design was same (based on its neighbour) with water based and shoreline supports.

Minnesota_Bridge_Collapse_sff_MNMIT.jpg

As for uneven loading, environmental factors create more uneven stresses on a structure like that, I have my doubts about the traffic causing the collapse.

Heres a pic, north would be to your left. Looks like the northern support is right at the water, which may lend credence to the erosion theory... (Your guess would be better than mine considering your trade)

Thats a very sturdy looking steel structure.

I'll be following this story when they finally determine the cause. This could definitely be a wake up call for other bridge structures.

*edit* I see you updated the picture, that image makes the bridge look kinda flimsy, but would be sufficient for loading conditions. I'm no engineer, by trade, but I do have some bg in steel structures.

That off center traffic loading condition at the northern most footings could be a culprit. We'll see.... :(

Veru interested see what is determined. John, thanks for clearing up some miscommunications/misinformation. WHo knows how much we hear over the next few days will be accurate. Personally, I think all news reporting (cough Fox News cough) is slanted one way or another. Not to mention, the people providing the "facts" to the media will have thier own agenda as well.