CovenantNews.com

5th Body Found in Minn. Bridge Debris

The Associated Press:
Fears that an interstate bridge collapse might produce dozens of deaths eased Friday as authorities said the number of missing, once thought to be as many as 30, was just eight. Firefighters pulled the fifth victim, the driver of a tractor-trailer rig that was engulfed in flames immediately after the collapse, from the wreckage late Thursday, fire department spokeswoman Kristi Rollwagen said. Video of the fire was among the most compelling images show in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.

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Local FOX News Twin Cities
MINNEAPOLIS -- The House Transportation Committee has approved legislation that would direct $250 million to Minnesota to help it replace a bridge that collapsed near downtown Minneapolis.

Minn. Bridge Found 'Structurally Deficient' in 1990
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- 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. In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its bearings.

More Than 70,000 Bridges Rated Deficient
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- More than 70,000 bridges across the country are rated structurally deficient like the span that collapsed in Minneapolis, and engineers estimate repairing them all would take at least a generation and cost more than $188 billion.That works out to at least $9.4 billion a year over 20 years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. The bridges carry an average of more than 300 million vehicles a day.

Posted by Editor at August 3, 2007 12:13 AM