{"id":1679,"date":"2007-11-21T12:26:40","date_gmt":"2007-11-21T17:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2007-11-21T12:26:40","modified_gmt":"2007-11-21T17:26:40","slug":"gas-tax-still-not-apparently-the-culprit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1679","title":{"rendered":"Gas Tax: Still Not (Apparently) The Culprit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pioneer Press is apparently a tool of Tim Pawlenty;\u00a0evidence apparently suggests that metal fatigue isn’t the culprit<\/a>\u00a0for the Bridge collapse (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

In the days after the collapse, reports drawing on past inspections immediately singled out seemingly alarming cracks in the bridge’s steel. The Minnesota Department of Transportation came under fire for what appeared to be shoddy bridge oversight. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But a closer look at the record throws into question the idea MnDOT could have prevented the collapse by reinforcing the Minneapolis bridge, as an outside consultant recommended<\/strong>. The record also casts doubt on the theory that fatigue cracks made the bridge fall.<\/p>\n

Here’s why:<\/p>\n

— The cracks were repaired in the 1990s. And they were never found in the main I-35W river span, which appeared to fall first on video of the collapsing bridge captured by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveillance camera.<\/p>\n

— The cracks were on the approach spans, which were not “fracture critical.” That designation signals a risk of total collapse if one key part of the bridge fails. The fracture critical area of the bridge was in the main span.<\/p>\n

— A proposal to strengthen the steel beams in the bridge’s main span by adding steel plates dealt with a speculative problem – potential cracks. The reinforcement also would not have guaranteed against a total collapse.<\/p>\n

— Fatigue cracks are more likely to occur and spread in cold weather, when steel is less flexible. The I-35W bridge collapse came after several days of 90-degree-plus weather.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unlike certain commentators, I would never replace science<\/a>\u00a0with my opinion<\/a>.\u00a0 I’ll await actual conclusions by real engineers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But if I may wax fantastic for a moment – that moment when some people are gonna have to apologize for accusing the Governor and David Strom<\/a> of complicity in murder might seem to be creeping closer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pioneer Press is apparently a tool of Tim Pawlenty;\u00a0evidence apparently suggests that metal fatigue isn’t the culprit\u00a0for the Bridge collapse (emphasis added): In the days after the collapse, reports drawing on past inspections immediately singled out seemingly alarming cracks in the bridge’s steel. The Minnesota Department of Transportation came under fire for what appeared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bridge-collapse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}