Aug 2, 2007 9:36 am US/Central
Worst Bridge Collapses In Recent U.S. History
Deadliest Collapse Killed 35 In Florida In 1980
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
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On July 31, a highway overpass in Oroville, Calif., collapsed, crushing a delivery truck and seriously injuring a construction worker.a a highway overpass in Oroville, Calif., collapsed, crushing a delivery truck and seriously injuring a construction worke
CBS
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In 2002, 14 people were killed when a barge hit a bridge in Webbers Falls, Okla., forcing a 500-foot section to cave in.
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Eight people died when the Queen Isabella Causeway in Texas collapsed in September 2001.
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The deadliest bridge collapse in the U.S. in the past 30 years occurred on May 9, 1980, when 35 people were killed in the collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, Florida.
The bridge collapse that left four people dead and 60 injured on the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis is the latest of numerous bridge tragedies nationwide over the past three decades.
Just this past Tuesday, a highway overpass in Oroville, Calif., collapsed, crushing a delivery truck and seriously injured a construction worker who clung to a steel beam as it tumbled 50 feet to the ground.
Firefighters swarmed the FedEx delivery truck to cut its driver from underneath a large steel beam that crushed the hood but missed the cab. A second beam landed on the back of the truck.
Rescuers freed the driver, Robert Sylvester, 45, of Chico, about 2 1/2 hours after he was trapped. He suffered only a sprained ankle and minor cuts, his wife, Carol, told The Associated Press. The construction worker, Jeffrey Doll of Olivehurst, fractured his pelvis, left elbow and lower left leg when the beam he was on collapsed.
In 2002, 14 people were killed when a barge hit a bridge in Webbers Falls, Okla., forcing a 500-foot section to cave in.
Investigators said the barge operator, Joe Dedmon, 61, lost consciousness as he steered the tow toward the bridge. Authorities said Dedmon suffers from a heart condition that could have caused him to black out.
Fourteen people died in May 2002, when a 500 foot section of a bridge over the Arkansas River in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, collapsed after a barge hit it.
The Queen Isabella Causeway in Texas collapsed in September 2001 after a tow boat captain lost control of a string of barges and currents drove them into a bridge support. Eight people died when their vehicles fell 85 feet into the channel.
A bridge on the New York State Thruway near Amsterdam, New York, gave way in April 1987, killing 10 people.
Twelve workers were killed and several more were injured when an expressway bridge ramp over Cline Avenue in East Chicago, Ind., collapsed on April 15, 1982.
But the deadliest bridge collapse in the U.S. in the past 30 years occurred on May 9, 1980, when 35 people were killed in the collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, Florida. A ship hit the bridge during a storm.
In the more distant past, another infamous bridge collapse left 46 people dead. The Silver Bridge, spanning the Ohio River between Pleasant Point, West Virginia, and Kanauga, Ohio, snapped and crashed into the river on Dec. 15, 1967. The cause was found to be undetectable corrosion.
On Nov. 7, 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the State of Washington collapsed just months after it opened, due to oscillation from high winds. The bridge had been closed earlier that morning, and thus no one was killed or injured.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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