It looks to me as though the most recent comments about the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis are suggesting that the collapse, like the collapse of the old Tacoma Narrows Bridge, was caused by aeroelastic flutter. That’s something that happens when vibration in one part of a structure propagates to other, sometimes seemingly unrelated, parts of the structure.
State Senator Steve Murphy is right:
Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and a vocal advocate for more transportation funding in the state, said “I can’t remember a year when somebody wasn’t pounding their fist on the table and saying ‘we can do better.’’ “
“I am hoping the Legislature and the governor can do better in the future.”
They can and should do better and that goes well beyond a single bridge in a single state. We need to do more planning ahead.
