The final span in the new Interstate St. Anthony Falls 35W bridge in Minneapolis was to be put in the place this week just days before the one year anniversary on the Aug. 1 of the predecessor bridge’s tragic collapse into the Mississippi River. DN editor-in-chief John Dodge ventured back to the new bridge this week to shoot some photographs just as he did a week after former bridge collapsed last year, killing 13.
As it stands, the design build process will take 437 days with the new opening planned for Dec. 24 although there is talk of the grand opening taking place sooner. A rush was put on the $234 million bridge project to mitigate the estimated economic impact which the Minnesota DOT has pegged at $400,000 a day or $60 million until the new bridge is finished.
The new bridge, built by Flatiron Construction Corp., is put together with concrete piers and emphasizes aesthetics and safety. It will also have a sensor-based system to monitor the bridge throughout its lifetime. Below are some comparisons between the old and new bridge from the Minnesota DOT web site:
100-year life span
10 lanes of traffic, five in each direction—two lanes wider than the former bridge
189 feet wide—the previous bridge was 113 feet wide
13 foot wide right shoulders and 14 foot wide left shoulders, the previous bridge had no shoulders
Light Rail Transport-ready which may help accommodate future transportation needs
Safety networks have become more complex, and have actually become simpler and easier to deploy for plant operators. This slideshow highlights developments in plant safety with an emphasis on integrated safety networks.
As the MEMS industry spans a myriad of industries and markets, the future of MEMS in consumer electronics will enable a myriad of functionality, applications, and personalization.
The Nest is a sleek-looking digital thermostat which can actually "learn" its owners' schedule and then continue to regulate temperature to suit the user's preferences and patterns.
Thanks to embedded electronics, medical devices are getting smaller and smarter than ever. Pacemakers and implantable defibrillators are now able to call physicians. MRIs, CT scanners, and ultrasound machines are gaining mobility. And the venerable Band-Aid may soon be able to detect illnesses ranging from fevers to heart arrhythmias. On February 21, join Design News senior editor Charles Murray for a wide-ranging discussion, "Embedded Angles for Medical Products," which will explore the latest developments in medical electronics. The discussion will examine advances in medical device technology and offer an inside look at the embedded electronics behind it.
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