A trivia note unrelated to anything really.  One of the bridges that crosses the Mississippi in Minneapolis to the North is the Broadway Bridge.  It is said to cross exactly at at 45 degree latitude or exactly half way between the equator and the north pole.  Might be true.  Earlier this summer, after (ironically) crossing the now collapsed 35w bridge my Garmin wrist GPS put 45 degrees N less than one hundred years north of Broadway Avenue and 35W.  I remember as a child walking around the edge of the Keller golf couse in St. Paul I saw a bronze plaque noting 45N.  Once I got a GPS I decided to try to replicate, ironically on a trip on 35W.

Moisture may have played more of a role than people might figure.  St. Anthony Falls is maybe a half mile upstream.  There is a small hydro plant there but, except in extreme drought conditions, there is always water over the dam face.  This is decorative of course but it also helps to add oxygen to the river water that goes over the dam so it is designed for maximum turbulence on the spillways to both give the illusion of a larger volume of water falling and to add more oxygen to the water.  It’s a cheap effective strategy but it also tends to add a lot more moisture to the air.  If you have ever been in a Glen below a waterfall you have noticed this moisture. 

At the point of St. Anthony Falls the river is flowing almost directly eastward and the prevailing wind here is from the West.  Below the falls, the Mississippi forms a deep gorge that tends to funnel the high humidity waterfall spray right past the collapsed 35W bridge.  I recall a few years back I was down there below the 35W bridge “playing” with an Isuzu trooper I them owned.  There were a number of piles of dirt left there that had settled so it was a fun place to “play” with 4 x4′s.  I noticed that the area seemed very humid.

Extra humidity alone wouldn’t’ be enough to brings down the bridge but a lot of the likely culprits be they road salt or “pigeon poop” or my favorite “bearing-hingle “scalling/sticking” are accelerated by moisture.  To coin a term we might call this the “boathouse effect”.  A boathouse is exposed to higher humidity and I’m still sticking (pun intended) with the bearing-hinge sticking/scalling as a contributing factor.  I haven’t heard the extra humidity mentioned in stories.

Not much new on the bridge collapse.  They released the 9-11 call transcripts.  It took the 9-11 center a minute or two to figure it out, not bad considering that this was an unprecedented catastrophe.  There were something like 22 9-11 operators on duty and they were soon overwhelmed.  This begs for an overflow system where the calls can be routed to other 9-11 systems of off duty 9-11 operators at home.  Mostly, it was hangups on call from people saying “the freeway stopped” and such but cellphones tend to result in “surges” of calls so this needs some “tweaking” but overall I thought that the existing 9-11 system did well.  The cellphone issue is something that needs some work   My “low end” cellphone cost me $20 to buy and $10 every three months to keep it going (70 minutes and I rollover around half).  The point is that cellphones are cheap enough for almost anyone to have them and 9-11 call centers need an “overflow strategy.  That’s basically post-disaster “tweaking”.

Overall, I rate our disaster response to the bridge collapse very good but it could use some “tweaking”.  These are studied and it provides a great business opportunity for local companies that can provide products and services for disaster response.  The public cares about this because it affects them and their loved ones personally.  Overall Minnesota is doing very well but we can learn from adversity.

I saw this story when leaving my email. 

Cellular Surge Overwhelms California 911
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/cellular-surge-overwhelms-california-911/20070826082709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

AP
Posted: 2007-08-26 08:28:57
Filed Under: Nation News
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 26) – California’s emergency agencies are struggling to adapt to a surge in calls from cell phones that have overwhelmed the state’s 911 system, leading to lost calls and long waits, according to a published report.

Cell phone emergency calls take longer to handle and dispatchers can easily become swamped, such as when multiple callers report from the same accident scene.

There are roughly 10 times the number of 911 calls made from cell phones in California than there were in 1990. Last year, more than 8 million emergency calls were made from cell phones in the state, according to a review of data by the Los Angeles Times.

Officials say callers are more likely to receive a quick response from a land line. But even those calls could have a delayed response by dispatchers bogged down by cell phone calls.

The state says 90 percent of 911 calls should be answered in less than 10 seconds. But at the California Highway Patrol’s two largest call centers – in Los Angeles and San Francisco – waits averaged more than five times that amount, according to data covering January through July of this year. It’s extra time that could be the difference between life and death when a child is choking or an assault is occurring.

Elementary school counselor Brad Edwards waited eight minutes for a dispatcher to pick up an emergency call he made from his cell phone when a student collapsed and began foaming at the mouth.

“The fire station is just a few blocks away,” he said. “I could have run there faster than it took them to help me.”

The longest waits through July – an average of the longest delays each month – were 27 minutes in the Los Angeles area, 47 minutes in the Ventura area and more than 16 minutes in the Bay Area.

CHP officials say cell phone users who dial 911for non-emergencies – seeking, for example, traffic or weather information – are partly to blame.

Records show that nearly half of the emergency calls made to the CHP in the Los Angeles area through July of this year were abandoned by callers, or disconnected before a dispatcher picked up.

The CHP cannot track how many of those calls were true emergencies.

But “even if it’s 1 percent of those emergency calls, we’re very concerned about it,” said CHP Assistant Chief Jon Lopey.

The state Department of General Services is pushing to divert more cell calls from CHP call centers to local agencies to ease some of the load.

In the 35W bridge replacement they added a light rail possibility in the design.  I’d guss it’s for now an excuse to add two more traffic lanes rather than light rail.  As I see it it’s a future bartering chip since these lanes could be taken away for light rail so some alternative will be offered to keep the extra freeway lanes.  A lot of weird enviormental law stuff in there.  If the bridge is just replaced the “enviormental impact statement” BS is not needed.  If it is increased then the EIS is needed which could delay the rebuild for many years. 

This is unprecidented, which is what makes it so interesting.  The most optimistic scenario seems to be having a new bridge open in time for the Republican National Convention.  That wouldn’t make a huge difference in convention traffic but it would sure get a lot of publicity.  My latest “grand scheme” which I posted on http://riverbridgecollapse.com and have been sending around is to make the bridge out of basically “steel I beams on steriods”.  The prefabricated units would need to be 460 feet long.  They could be fabricated anywhere in the world or more specifically anywhere on the Mississippi River or if from other parts of the world up the Missisppi by barge.  All locks on the Mississippi are 600 feet or longer except for the final lock and the Ford Dam in St. Paul which is 400 feet long.  I have figured out hot to get a 460 foot beam through a 400 foot dam lock. 

This “mad engineer-wannabee” stuff is not unprecedented.  <grin!>.  In California someone noted that railroad were scrapping out surplus 90 foot long railcars that were designed to carry semi-tralers because containers had become more common.  This person got the idea that these rail car “frames” could be made into instant bridges.  California bought the idea and when the “world series” earthquake happened there they had these “bridges” up in a matter of days.  That worked great!

On other news they finally pulled the last body out of the Mississippi River after the August 1 collapse.  It was a total of 13 dead and six still have serious injuries but I believe these are all expected to recover.  So far they have not found a “smoking gun” on the cause of the collapse.  So far, the stories have been on the decision to monitor rather than repair known stress cracks.  Basically they have no “smoking gun”.

Basically, I’m still sticking with my hinge/bearing galling/sticking/corrosion theory as “win, place or show”.  The Star Tribune had an article on a bridge stress sensor system though it seemed to operate on a different principle.  The article seemed mostly fixated on the fact that it was “solar powered” rather than the de technical details on what it would do.  Solar is more expensive than pulling into the grid but these sensor systems use so little electricity anyway that “saving the planet” is not a real factor.  I’m sure this is a very good system but the cost per unit is around $30K.  I could build a working demo of mine for $30.  While I designed it for the hinges/bearings with other stress there is distance and a simple laser measurer can do the trick.  A hardened weatherproof device would be more expensive but far less (and yes it could be solar powered! Whoopee dee!).  Actually solar is coming down in price and is ideal for remote locations where it is expensive to hard wire, especially for low use applications but it’s not cost effective with the “grid”.

I sort of know this stuff. I visited my great grandmother who lived in a log cabin with a wind generator.  (the harsh life no doubt contributed to her death at age 106 ).  To her the early transistor radios and 12 volt florescent lights were god sent.  Se used to “conserve electricity” so she could listen to the Minnesota Twins games on her newfangled transistor radio.

I signed up for email updates from MN Dot on the 35W bridge.  At the public comment section I left the following comment on the 35W bridge rebuilding.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/comment.html

I used the 35W bridge for three or four trips per week.  I strongly support your effort to rebuild the bridge as quickly as possible.  I consider light rail provisions to be a very bad idea.  I light rail is desired they could use the #9 bridge downstream from the 35W bridge for a light rail crossing. 

As for a design of the replacement bridge I propose using large underside steel beams like those used on the nearby I-94 crossing.  The same basic design but with peirs out of the water.  A few years back the i-94 bridge was widened by adding more of these underside beams.  You would have this option with the replacement 35W bridge.

I just checked and the locks at the Ford Dam are 400 feet long.  http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/navigation/default.asp?pageid=145&subpageid=146  I believe this is longer that the “water” span of the 35W “footprint”.  This is critcal because it would allow the manufacture and prefarication of these nearly 400 foot steel beams anywhere on the Missississippi or it’s navigatable tributaries.  This might greatly speed up the rebuilding of the bridge. 

I signed up for email updates from MN Dot on the 35W bridge.  At the public comment section I left the following comment on the 35W bridge rebuilding.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/comment.html

I used the 35W bridge for three or four trips per week.  I strongly support your effort to rebuild the bridge as quickly as possible.  I consider light rail provisions to be a very bad idea.  I light rail is desired they could use the #9 bridge downstream from the 35W bridge for a light rail crossing. 

As for a design of the replacement bridge I propose using large underside steel beams like those used on the nearby I-94 crossing.  The same basic design but with peirs out of the water.  A few years back the i-94 bridge was widened by adding more of these underside beams.  You would have this option with the replacement 35W bridge.

I just checked and the locks at the Ford Dam are 400 feet long.  http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/navigation/default.asp?pageid=145&subpageid=146  I believe this is longer that the “water” span of the 35W “footprint”.  This is critcal because it would allow the manufacture and prefarication of these nearly 400 foot steel beams anywhere on the Missississippi or it’s navigatable tributaries.  This might greatly speed up the rebuilding of the bridge. 

I started a blog on the 35W bridge collapse. I don’t care much about publicity, I just want to get my idea published and dated in case I get things correct. A couple of points I have in the blog that I haven’t seem discussed. I believe that when they remove and take apart the bridge “hinges/bearings” they will find that they are corroded and sticking. The technical term for this is “galling”. As i see it a relatively inexpensive “tool” is a laser measure mounted high that “phones home” data. If the hinge/bearing is working well there should be a nice smooth “bell curve” on flex and the distance measurement this causes. If it’s “sticky” the curve will be “jerky”. It’s much like the “squeaky” hinge that need lubrication. If the data is “phoned home” a computer program could monitor it for missing data and “sticky” bell curves. It should be relatively cheap and quite effective.

The other thing I mention in the blog is the City corp building in New York City. It has a major design flaw, despite advanced engineering where a 15 year hurricane could have toppled the building. They lucked out and got it reinforced before a hurricane hit New York City. Bridges and building are different but it shows the flaws of modern engineering.

My blog is at http://riverbridgecollapse.com http://riverbridgefall.com and http://thedailydigital.com All the same site,

With the brewhaha about Light Rail on the new 35W bridge I emailed you a few days ago about the “old railroad bridge” downstream.  I saw something on the news about the potential reopening.  This is the bridge that I have always considered ideal for “Phase 2″ of proposed light rail.  Basically, the tracks could “clip” the U of MN West Bank.  I used to live on the top floor of the Chateau Housing Coop facing East so I had great fun watching the rail traffic.(the big tall building in Dinkeytown you can see at one of the pictures).  If the light rail used the inner railroad tracks it could stop in Dinkeytown and at the new Gopher Football Stadium.  It could potentially go to University Avenue before Hi way 280.  This would eliminated a tunnel or the LRT going on the street in the East Bank/Stadium Village traffic bottleneck.  I’m sure this route was eliminated before but with the talk of light rail on the 35W bridge it would seem that all cards should again be back on the table.

I found a link for a webpage with pictures of the bridge. 

http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/bridges/pages/b02.html

Monday night I drove downtown from Hiawatha and noticed that the approach (7th Street?) is now two lanes.  Still go no good signage on the barrels for the 35W-South ?394 exit  or the the U of MN West Bank Washington Avenue bridge exit.  I have to got to my dentist in Stadium Village Thursday and I plan to take the Franklin Avenue bridge because I can’t figure out where the Washington Avenue Bridge exit is off Hiawatha.  I have been driving this route for 25 years so it’s not like I’m stupid.

I think that Mayor R.T Rybaks anti-car biase is coming out.  First is the “light rail” on a replacement 35W bridge.  I was thinking that out and perhaps if the bridge had arches there could be structural provisions for a LRT lanes in the level below the main deck.  It would need dimensions much like the Minnehaha Park “tunnel” or half is split in two.  That does not seem that difficult and industrial use of the railroad on the east bank will be eliminated in the near future.

Off subject, but another bridge over the Mississippi is the old railroad bridge now used as a pedestrian bridge by the U of MN.  After going to the dentist I will check it out to see if it one or two track wide but it was built to heavy rail specs and seems in good condition.  That’s another Light Rail potential crossing point. 

On the radio I heard a story of Mayor Ryback deciding to keep the 10th Avenue bridge closed out of “respect for the dead” and because it might be an investigative sight.  This is nonsense.  You can see as much from the opened Stone Arch bridge (or the evening news) and if the bridge is intact, what is there to investigate?  They could close the “upstream” side bicycle land/sidewalk and enforce “no stopping on bridge” rules for cars and bicycles using the main bridge surface.  This is a valuable traffic management asset being squandered.