http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_us/bridge_collapse
"The bridge had been inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and no immediate structural problems were noted, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday.
"There were some ***** things that needed attention," he said. "They notified us from an engineering standpoint the deck might need to be rehabilitated or replaced in 2020 or beyond."
A federal database, however, showed the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" in 2005 and possibly in need of replacement, the Star Tribune reported citing the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory.
"We've seen it, and we are very familiar with it," Jeanne Aamodt, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said of the 2005 assessment. She noted that many other bridges around the country carry the same designation that the I-35W bridge received, and she declined to say what the agency was going to do to address the deficiencies found in 2005. "
I heard on TV 50,000 bridges have been deemed "structurally deficient" as this one had,but that would not mean it was deemed unsafe.I also heard that economically it is not feasible to replace all this aging infrastrucure and that it comes down to wait for it to collapse then it will be replaced.The road work was just repaving and is not beleived to be the cause of the collapse.We need to invest in our infrastructure in my opinion instead of more tax cuts or excessive spending on the military.
