I heard a talk the other day about bridge insufficiency given by a professor of civil engineering. The program was based around the Minneapolis bridge collapse. He showed slides of the collapse and some aerial shots taken of the bridge before the disaster.
The post collapse photos he showed were more horrifying than the ones we saw on television. Not sure why that was, but the shots he had were taken at a higher angle and showed in greater detail the danger those people were in. For example, the cars that remained on the broken section of the bridge were on a steeper grade than the television portrayed. I was surprised at the difference in perspective and found it amazing that any of those cars could have stopped in time to avoid going off the bridge into the water.
He went on to say that the bridge was at 50 percent insufficiency, which means the bridge should have been replaced. The state's government received the money to do this, but apparently used it for other reasons. To me this is highly negligent, and those responsible should be held accountable. Totally irresponsible and alsmost evil in a way. Can you imagine being one of the victims or the victims' family and knowing that they could have repaired the bridge but instead used it for some pork project?
He also mentioned several bridges in Nashville that are close to being in the same condition, just like countless bridges across the country. Yikes!
It is a shame that this country was once known for its brilliant infrastructure, which is now starting to come down around us.
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