i thought i read a post here somewhere earlier that some confused motorist drove over it with their car. I wonder if that over stressed it

I have to imagine it wasnt designed for this type of weight.

Plowing would be quite inconvenient if it can't handle the weight of a motor vehicle.

It's designed to handle the weight of motor vehicles just fine. Apparently there was a firetruck, police car and ambulance on it Friday evening (for someone passed out at the pylon). I'd expect the train running underneath it to put more stress on the bridge (by way of vibrations) than most vehicles going over it.

I kinda have the same thought, but here's the car on the Sabo Bridget thread: http://www.mplsbikelove.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22281

FTFY

To be fair, it could easily be many other issues but I wonder if a design or construction defect combined with the weight of three emergency vehicles (fire trucks aren't light) on it a few days ago did it in.

However, it seems to me that I can build a deck and claim that it can hold 100 people, but if 50 people get on it and it collapses, my claim should probably be questioned.

It makes me think of some of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs - they appear too delicate or unsupported to be structurally sound.

Lo and behold, a few decades later, they begin to fail.

Funny, that.

Anyway, the whole situation sucks. I hope it was a simple physical defect or we may see a lot of bike infrastructure money go to waste.

I really hope that failure analysis is published, it will be A LONG time coming. I am very interested to see what the cause of failure is.

I am also very glad no one was hurt. Bridges are still a sensitive subject in this town!

Pretty interesting that it would fail right at the pylon. The way it failed suggests the pylon is sinking.

Minneapolis must have some shitty bridge karma.

FTFY.

The city hasn't specified an official detour for bicyclists to date, so here are a couple of unofficial alternates:

From the Midtown Greenway going east, turn right at 28th street and cross Hiawatha Ave at the light. You can pick up the Greenway on the east side of Hiawatha.

Riders who prefer to cross on a bridge can go north to 24th St, cross on the bridge, then turn south on Minnehaha Ave. Minnehaha Ave connects with the Greenway on the east side of Hiawatha Ave. Accessing 24th Ave will be tricky until the Sabo Bridge is stabilized. After it is stabilized, riders can turn off the Greenway at 28th and follow the bike path to Hiawatha Ave, then turn north on the path that runs parallel to Hiawatha.

The media kept reporting that traffic was affected on Hiawatha and on the light rail. Nobody mentioned bike and pedestrian traffic. Cyclists didn’t even get an early warning further back on the trail, and they were left to their own devices to figure out how to get through the messed-up traffic on Hiawatha.

Hiya, Are you the map guy? I've got one of your maps in the handlebar bag on all my bikes. I like them a lot.

And they should have notified cyclists how, exactly?

If the bridge is out, one crosses at street level, as many of us do who are too lazy to cross the bridge.

They would notify cyclist the same as vehicle traffic, with advance traffic signs (the orange construction ones) warning trail closed ahead. This should have been in place. You should call 311 when you see things like this as the traffic control company should put up signs. They may not have gotten to it yet as highway traffic would be considered higher priority due to traffic numbers.

Maybe it's because that bridge was never designed for police cars.