As most of you may have seen on the national news, on Wednesday, August 1st at 6:05 p.m. at the end of rush hour, the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed without warning. This bridge was built in 1967 and is the busiest bridge in Minnesota, with 141,000 cars crossing it daily, it joins the East and West bank of the Mississippi river and accomodates commuters and visitors to downtown Minneapolis traveling from the northern suburbs.
At the time of the collapse I was working about 15 miles south, helping the new manager of the South Minneapolis Red Roof Inn with the monthly supply ordering. While the bridge is not a route on any of my commutes, I have traveled it in the past few weeks to visit friends and go to events in the city. The Governor, NTSB, and several police departments have given numerous press conferences on the banks of the Mississippi overlooking the bridge. This weekend the Bushes will be visiting the area to survey the damage and congress has approved over $250 million of aid to rebuild this major crossing.
Currently there are 79 injured in area hospitals, 3 dead on the scene, and 1 dead after emergency surgery at the Hennepin County Medical Center. There are 20-30 estimated people unaccounted for and possibly burried in the rubble that is now on the muddy bottom of the Mississippi River. Unfortunately strong currents created by the bridge structure sinking in the river has hindered the search and recovery efforts.
It was a very tragic evening in the Twin Cities, news has been broadcasting updates non-stop and the sad mood has been tempered by stories of courage and survival in the midst of a terrible accident. This evening's Twins game has been postponed until the end of the season and the groundbreaking for the new ballpark which was to take place on August 2nd has been delayed.
Many friends and coworkers in the area have contacted me and I've been able to reach all of my friends who live in the area. It will take months to years to return the area of the collapse to normalcy. This collapse had no warning, while there had been deficiencies in the bridge's recent inspections, it was not scheduled for replacement until after 2027.
The NTSB anticipates publishing findings after several months but the national media has been making speculation and preliminary assumptions to keep the public watching and worrying.
This collapse was an unfortunate consequence of a failure in a modern structure that was difficult to forsee; the public and first responders acted quickly and admirably which saved lives and yielded the best possible outcome of this tragedy. The only lesson the public should take from this event is to value the present and enjoy the ones you are with.