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Aug.2,2007
Part of 35W in Minneapolis collapsed today, around 6 pm. I was just getting home from work and heading over to a friend’s house. I could’ve taken 35W. I took 35E instead. Yikes.
At least 50 cars were on the bridge during rush hour traffic when it collapsed.
Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis said that at least six people were killed in the bridge collapse. Local officials warned that the number of fatalities was likely to increase through the night. One witness told CNN that a policeman said he had seen seven bodies. Dozens of injured drivers and passengers were taken to area hospitals.
The eight-lane Interstate 35 bridge, a major link between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was being repaired at the time, and an eyewitness told MSNBC that he had heard a jackhammer being used on the roadway just before the collapse at about 6 p.m. local time. Witnesses said the bridge, which was built in 1967, collapsed in three sections, sending a plume of smoke 100 feet into the sky.
I hope the death toll doesn’t rise any higher. What a disaster.
You can screech back, or trackback from your own site.
The instant I saw this on the news last night, I thought of you and wondered if you were okay. Glad to hear you are, but it is terrible about those who clearly are not.An a mechanical engineer, I’m going to take a stab and say bridge scour probably played a significant role in undermining the bridges supports. Not that our nations public infrastructure is not in terrible shape (it is) and not maintained/replaced on a regular basis (it is not). Apparently, we have other priorities, such as pointless expensive wars on transient verbs instead.
Hey fallout — thanks for your concern, buddy. FYI, this guy agrees with you about < HREF="http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog.asp?id=719" REL="nofollow">our poor public infrastructure<>. Meanwhile, here in MN we’re busy subsidizing billionaires, giving them hundreds of millions in tax money to pay for new stadiums we don’t need. The < HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_H._Humphrey_Metrodome" REL="nofollow">Metrodome<> is far younger than that bridge (1982 vs. 1967). I guess bridge-repair just doesn’t look that sexy on the budget.But it saves lives.
Hey there,Glad to see that you’re AOK. As I’m currently living in a box, I didn’t see the disaster until yesterday when I was standing in the laundromat. I looked up at the TV and when I saw that it was the 35W, I pretty much had a meltdown, as I know plenty of folks from the twin cities. I’ve heard from all but one now, but feel that she’s also just fine. However, my sympathies go out to all that may never be because of this.There is one thing that I have been pointing out to people here on the east coast that I would like to point out here as well, if I may. If something like this were to happen, the northern mid-west was probably one of the best places for it. Why? You guys don’t immediately think that the terrorists are coming; and you all will band together as there has always, and I hope will continue to be, almost a feeling of closeness to one’s fellow man out there. It’s odd, but I just knew that yesterday that folks in MN and WI were either banded together drinking beer while shaking their heads; or were in small groups in their kitchens making casseroles for their grief stricken neighbors – some of which they may never had met.Now, let’s hope that this incident wakes up the fed and shows them that we need to leave more $$ at home to fix what we have here before we are America the Beautiful no more…