By now, you have probably seen the video of the bridge collapse. That video is a security cam for the Lower St. Anthony Lock and Dam. If you're wondering about the orientation of that shot, the camera is on the west bank on the upstream side of the bridge looking north. I should also point out that MNDoT has traffic cameras all over that interstate. Here is a view of the bridge from the MNDoT camera at Washington St., the closest camera to what is now just a gaping hole. The next two cameras northbound are not functioning. Whether those cameras were located on the bridge, I do not know, but a north-facing camera trained on the 4th St. interchange would just about have to be on the bridge. What I can say is that seeing all the camera images of 35W with no cars from 280 to downtown is surreal to anyone who has traveled that area.
I have not heard anyone mention the MNDoT cameras yet in the news media. One would presume that they would be recorded, but I don't know. Minnesota has one of the more advanced traffic monitoring networks around. If there is a recording, I hope it would shed some light on what happened.
There is going to be a lot of talk about spending money to upgrade the country's infrastructure. In the press conference today, Senator Klobuchar remarked that "in America bridges just shouldn't collapse." (I may not have the quote exact, but I haven't seen a transcript yet.) But they do. It's just that they are usually smaller bridges with fewer deaths and injuries. And as with any situation that involves risk--and bridge building certainly involves risk--one has to weigh whether the risks are acceptable. 100% safety is not feasible. The task now is to determine why this happened so as to prevent it from happening again. Bridges with similar safety risks will need to be re-evaluated to see if they are on the verge of collapse.
There is a tendency to run from one emergency to the next and call for change. The fact is that bridge collapses of this type are extremely rare. It has been almost a quarter of a century since a bridge of this magnitude has collapsed for an unexplained reason (i.e. not because of earthquake or collision). If we continue on the same course, the next one could be twenty years from now or it could be tomorrow. Such is the nature of these events. But there is no question that many bridges that carry a lot of traffic are aging--and showing signs of age. State and local officials across the country need to make sure that there is a formal plan in place to prioritize bridge repair and replacement that is based on risk (i.e. the probability of a collapse) and value (i.e. the loss to the infrastructure if the bridge fails). 35W would have rated high in terms of value. The economic loss in terms of rerouted traffic is hard to calculate, but very great.
As a final observation, I would just point out that it is obvious that many of the cable news anchors who have presided over the coverage of this disaster are woefully unprepared for this sort of event. Many of them seem to lack the sort of general education necessary to understand what they are seeing. For example, one anchor was unsure whether what came up from the water when the bridge fell into the river was smoke or water. She seemed convinced it was smoke. Granted, smoke was present after the collapse, but what you see in the video is water. Here's a helpful hint. Smoke rises and lingers. Water splashes back down where it came from. There were plenty of other examples from last night too numerous to mention.
There should be a class for news anchors on dealing with disasters.
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