The Collapsed of the Bridge in Minneapolis

The collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007, was the definition of tragedy; a tragedy that could have been easily avoided. In June 2006 a state inspection was done on the bridge that gave the bridge an overall rating of 50 out of 120 points – about 42%. According to the scale, this did not mean the bridge was necessarily considered “unsafe.” After the bridge collapsed on August 1st, maybe now would be a good time to rethink the rating scale and perhaps a score of 50 can now be considered “unsafe.” There are bridges that are even lower on the rating scale and have not been replaced or repaired. Hopefully, this incident will open the eyes of the Army Corps of Engineers and perhaps they will change the ratings on the scale for the bridges.

Did we learn nothing from Hurricane Katrina? The state officials were told time and time again that the barrier wall was too low and was not strong enough to handle anything that could be of hurricane caliber. No one wanted to spend the money to revamp and repair the barrier wall. It has taken more than two years to rebuild that great city in Louisiana, and it isn’t even close to what it once was.

Perhaps these will be lessons that will wake up officials. Maybe now is the time to create new rating scales. Maybe now is the time to pay attention to what experts say about structures that are keeping citizens safe. Hopefully, tragedies like these can and will be avoided in the near future. America certainly has had its share of tragedy and heartbreak in the last 6 years.