My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 2, 2007

I connected with a family member who is in his residency in Minneapolis, MN this evening to be sure that he and his family were safe. According to his wife Keity, Justin was already at the hospital working; I noticed the news reports mentioned that most doctors were called in to the hospitals. (Justin is in residency in Minneapolis) Keity ‘was’ planning to cross the ‘just’ collapsed interstate 35W bridge when she heard the news on the television. As far as we know, her parents and family who live in Minneapolis are all fine.

EDIT: Added animated flash to post 8/2/2007 12:40PM – LINK


The interstate bridge collapsed during rush hour traffic last evening dropping cars and trucks some 60 feet down into the Mississippi River below. At least seven people have died and over 60 injured at I post this. The I-35W eight lane highway is a major artery that crosses the river and is traveled by thousands of vehicles daily. The highway was under construction and traffic was down to two lanes of bumper to bumper traffic including a bus full of 60 children — most survived with only minor injuries although a couple are in critical condition. Some survives said that the bridge crumbled and seemed as if there was an earthquake before they realized that the bridge itself was collapsing.

According to the local paper (Minneapolis Star Tribune), the steel-arched bridge, which was built in 1967 and is about 64 feet above the river. Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge’s surface as part of improvements along that stretch of the interstate. Gov. Tim Pawlenty stated to the press that “Obviously, this is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota, and right now we are focused on making sure that we are doing everything to respond to the needs of those individuals that may have been harmed in this incident.”

View from under the I-35W bridge prior to collapse

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: