Merged.

I still think the main design flaw with the bridge is that trail users on the east side of Hiawatha have to climb a hill, and entering from or exiting to the northbound trail requires a switchback.

For future reference:

JUST STAY ON THE SIDEWALKS, ITS SAFER!!!

Apparently we need to improve our interview process for hiring bridge design consultants. At a minimum, perhaps a question along the lines of "How many of your bridges have failed"?

LOL! That's awesome!

Actually, it is. It is even designed for a fire truck.

I'm not sure it is designed for a fire truck AND a cop car AND an ambulance, all at the same time, however.



Gabriel

I do find it interesting that all three were on the bridge Saturday evening and Saturday night is when the issues came about. Sadly, the bridge will get a bad rap from the Anti bicycle/mass transit crowd for what is probably user error.

Not at all clear on why a fire truck was needed to deal with a passed-out drunk...

firemen are first responders. just like an ambulance. if there's a medical emergency many times the fire truck will show up before the ambulance.

I'm still curious as to how much weight that was and how much the bridge was built to handle. Even a single Squad car is 4000lbs.

I mentioned this last night to a friend who works in the news area of MPR, and he said they were following up on a thread about a police vehicle on the bridge but couldn't verify it. I think all three vehicles would probably interest them.

If anyone actually saw this, or has credible information about it, shoot me a PM and I'll get you in touch with the right people.

Maybe I'm a little too close to the professional engineering world, but I can't imagine a major bridge project, post-911, constructed of concrete and steel, going over a mass-transit corridor, that isn't rated for the dynamic loading of numerous heavy EMS vehicles, maintenance vehicles, etc. If it was a little timber thing in a park somewhere, sure, but not this. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see if an investigation would prove otherwise. But I think faulty installation of those cable anchors at the top of the tower is far more likely than a flaw in the design load calcs.

According to threads on the city issues list, there may have been a flaw in the cast brackets holding the ends of the cables and that several other brackets are showing signs of failure.

Apparently when inspected last fall, there were no external signs of trouble.

Also of interest, it sounds like a part of the sabo bridge's design is less for form and more for function - it had to get over a lot of land without pylons while staying sufficiently under the high power lines.

Oh, without question. They had to thread a needle to get it in there - above the LRT, and below the HV power lines.


Gabriel

I get that, but was it really necessary to drive a massive fire rig up up on the bridge, instead of parking it at the base and walking up? We won't know the cause of the failure for quite a while, but what are the Vegas odds on 3 vehicles on the bridge - 2 days before the failure - being just a coincidence?