I'm watching it now on the news. it's terrible.

Here in S.W. Florida had a new causeway built. The Sanibel causeway. There were cracks found in the old one, and just about a week and a half a go, the new causeway has been opened.

What a tragedy.

Construction seems to be the latest issue.

very sad.there is a twins baseball game going on near that bridge or was.i say they should cancel.its only respectable....

We have a Twins baseball, summer practice stadium here in S.W. Florida. It's called Hammond stadium.

Mike, I agree with the decision not to cancel the game. The rescue crews said that would send thousands of people back to the disaster area. At the time they didn't have any detours set up for people to take and the #1 priority was finding the victims. I think they're canceling tonight's game, but they needed to keep the people who had already made it to the stadium in one place.

Thank goodness the children on the bus were all rescued. I can't imagine being on a bridge and seeing it collapse in front of you. Some of the stories are chilling. One man said his car began to roll and he was able to get out before plunging into the river.   

Pac, it's interesting that the Sanibel bridge was about the same age. I never would estimate that 40 years is old for a bridge, but I guess it is. So far everyone is denying that the construction work on the bridge was for major structural repairs or it would have been closed. They were only resurfacing it.   If every lane had been open, more people would have perished, although that won't be comforting news for the families of the victims and those who were seriously injured.

Am I the only person who wondered for a moment "was this terrorism?" (so far there is no evidence of terrorism, but in this day & age, it does come to mind)

I must comment by saying how we all can be affect by such an event. I shed a few tears.

This was on Yahoo news earlier. Scary, isn't it? Over 40% of our bridges need repair and it would cost about $10 billion - far less than the War on Iraq. Why rebuild their infrastructure when our own people are at risk???? I also think they should spend the money to fix the bridges we use to get to work before they build ones to keep immigrants out. Anyway, here is part of the article that is disturbing.

Minnesota representative James Oberstar, chairman of the House of Representatives' Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told Fox News that the bridge that collapsed was known to be in need of repairs.

"I know for a fact that the bridge has been listed as structurally deficient for several years," he said. "It was on their list of bridges to be fixed -- that is reconstruction work, bridge decking and bridge pier supports.

Justxploring, yes, I also heard that there are about 80,000 bridges under the same level of defeciency like the collapsed one. Also, a stuctural engineer said that a small bridge is either closed or collapses once a week in this country. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

I once drove a family of 5 from the airport to the beach a few months ago. When we approched that bridge to go over to the beach side, the mother asked me if we had to cross that bridge, and I said yes. She was so terrified that she closed her eyes and was on the verge of crying. I saw a show about people and their phobias concerning bridges. I used to think they were crazy, until now...lol