An eight-lane steel bridge on interstate 35 collapsed evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted 60 into the Mississippi River. Ten people died, and than 50 were seriously injured. The bridge was repaired because it was found to be structurally ; it needed to be reinforced. Like many bridges America, the bridge was built more than 40 ago. Traffic was much lighter then. Nowadays, cars, , and big trucks cross the bridge steadily, even at night.
“I heard a terrific boom. It like the loudest thunder I ever heard,” said witness to the disaster. She ran out of car to see what was happening. She saw falling into the river and heard people screaming. heard the loud cracking sounds of the bridge and splashing sounds as bridge sections and vehicles the water. “It was horrible,” she said.
Engineers no explanation for the collapse. They said the had been inspected recently. The report said that, it was structurally deficient, the bridge was not . Since the report did not declare the bridge , the decision was to simply reinforce it at locations.
Americans were shocked that an American bridge simply collapse. The news was all over TV, , and most newspapers. One newspaper investigation revealed that 10 percent (about 59,000) of America’s bridges were deficient.
Initially, some people speculated that terrorists might rigged a bomb to the bridge. Others noted all the pigeon poop on the bridge’s support might have eroded the steel. One blogger wrote , before he drove over another bridge in America, would make sure that a life jacket was the front seat next to him.