Wow. Breaking news as the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour, sending as many as 20 cars into the Mississippi River below. From the pictures it looks like the entire length of the bridge fell, not just one section, with parts of the destroyed bridge submerged and parts above the water.
A few concerned relatives called to make sure we were OK, and we’re fine. We hadn’t even heard about it until we got the call. It’s actually pretty rare that we take I-35W, even more rare that we’d take that bridge. Though ironically, Lexi and I took that bridge on Tuesday and were in the area near the river on Monday (see a pic with a vague view of the bridge).
Update:
- From WCCO: “It was a free fall all the way to the ground,” said one person who was on the bridge at the time. “Thank God I was wearing my seat belt. The only thing I was hit was the steering wheel.”
- Star Tribune: “The arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rises about 64 feet above the river.”
- Wikipedia entry on the bridge with current updates
- Pioneer Press: “It’s like it went in slow motion. I heard the crack and I saw the cars going straight in. There was not a space between the cars on that bridge. I tried to tell people on the road if you can swim get down there and help.”
- Star Trib: “The bridge started to buckle,” he said. “It went up and it came down. I thought I was gonna die.”
- Flickr photos: Adam Wolf, steve.schmeiser, Mordac, Bree R., Tubes, Diversey (now you can just check popular tags like i35w, bridgecollapse, collapse or i35).
Reaction
This is pretty wild. Back in the summer of 2000 I worked for the National Park Service writing a guide for trails along the Mississippi River and my early drafts always talked about how easy it is while we drive over our concrete bridges to forget that the mighty Mississippi flows beneath us. We just drive over the bridge and think nothing of it. The area where the bridge collapsed is actually chockfull of bridges–I-35W, 10th Avenue, down river there’s a U of M pedestrian bridge, the Washington Ave., and a little farther down the I-94 bridge and the Franklin Ave. bridge. Up river there’s the Stone Arch Bridge, the 3rd Ave bridge, the Hennepin Ave. bridge, etc.
It’s also a little scary since we recently moved across the river and now cross bridges (primarily the High Bridge and the I-35E bridge) all the time.
Why Did it Collapse?
The big question everyone is asking is why did it happen? Everyone is quick to say terrorism is not suspected. The bridge has been under construction, though I keep hearing that it was merely surface maintenance.
On the plus side, the construction means the traffic should have been limited. Supposedly traffic may have been restricted to one lane in each direction.
Injuries/Deaths
So far I’ve heard numbers of 38 injuries and 1-3 fatalities (update: now it’s 9 dead, 60 injured, 20 missing), though there’s speculation that there will be more, especially in the water. It’s kind of amazing that the numbers are that low so far.
Aftermath
There’s also lots of reports of people just coming down to gawk (or hopefully to help) or find loved ones, which is hindering some of the emergency crews from getting down there. I can see the temptation to go down there and see what’s going on, but what a mess.
I haven’t heard anybody say how long it will take to put up a new bridge (which is admittedly rather tacky–let’s rescue people before we try to rebuild), but I imagine it will be quite a while. Usually bridge projects take years.
My prayers go out to those involved and their families.