One year after: Remembering, rebuilding

The Minneapolis I-35W bridge that fell was finished in 1967. The Kennedy I-65 bridge was finished in 1963. Most bridges in the U.S. are built with a design life of fifty years. Do the math. The Kennedy bridge will need replacement well before any companion bridge is built downtown. Meanwhile, politicians are telling there isn't money available to fix all the bridges in the U.S. that are in need of repairs. Politicians are playing a bad game of Russian roulttte with our lives, yet no one will get angry until a lot more people killed and injured in another dramatic bridge collapse. How many people would likely die if the Kennedy collapse during afternoon rush-hour traffic today??? We ought to be letting our representatives know how concerned we are about this mess.

Bridge collapse revealed holes in federal data

This report ought to make you think twice about crossing a bridge!

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Kentucky was threatened with loss of federal funds for not turning in its bridge data.

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Originally posted by French Toast:

The Minneapolis I-35W bridge that fell was finished in 1967. The Kennedy I-65 bridge was finished in 1963. Most bridges in the U.S. are built with a design life of fifty years. Do the math. The Kennedy bridge will need replacement well before any companion bridge is built downtown.

These two bridges are totally different forms of bridges from an engineering point of view. To say the Kennedy bridge will fail just like the Minneapolis bridge because of its age is not entirely correct. Many other factors need to be addressed; I believe that ongoing maintenance on the Kennedy is better than what the Minneapolis bridge received (if it received anything more than an inspection, I'd be surprised).

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Originally posted by Racin' Rick:

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Originally posted by French Toast:

The Minneapolis I-35W bridge that fell was finished in 1967. The Kennedy I-65 bridge was finished in 1963. Most bridges in the U.S. are built with a design life of fifty years. Do the math. The Kennedy bridge will need replacement well before any companion bridge is built downtown.

These two bridges are totally different forms of bridges from an engineering point of view. To say the Kennedy bridge will fail just like the Minneapolis bridge because of its age is not entirely correct. Many other factors need to be addressed; I believe that ongoing maintenance on the Kennedy is better than what the Minneapolis bridge received (if it received anything more than an inspection, I'd be surprised).

Please don't put words in my mouth, Rick. I never suggested that the Kennedy bridge will fail. I did note that the Kennedy bridge is nearing the fifty year mark and that required maintenance may show a sharp up tick in the future. This is critical from both a life safety standpoint and an economic standpoint. Just think about all the commerce we have coming through hospital curve. It is already becoming a bottleneck with no new bridge in sight. We've got to be prepared to take care of the much needed Kennedy bridge.