Here’s an animation of the proposed Lafayette Bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota. A previous bridge on Lafayette Street, built in 1905 spanned the Soo Line railroad tracks, but not the river itself. The 1905 bridge was removed in the 1960′s and the existing bridge opened to traffic in 1968.The bridge nearly collapsed in 1975 after a large crack in a main beam caused a 7-inch dip to form at the road surface. It was temporarily closed to traffic as that damage was repaired. After the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi bridge , the Lafayette Bridge was cited as another bridge in Minnesota with a “fracture critical” structure which could collapse with the failure of just a single support element. The Lafayette Bridge was already scheduled to be replaced in 2011 before the I-35W bridge fell into the river in 2007.
Oof. I think the wobbly camera in that animation made me airsick. That’s a remarkably well-made animation, but yeesh.