Thoughts about the 35W Bridge Collapse

I Used to take that Bridge Everyday.
All this week, I have had to do some extra driving, and the construction this summer on 35W was a big bummer. There were times I knew the back-up through the construction zone near my exit at Johnson St would free up after the bridge construction. I marvelled at how much punishment they were putting on this bridge. At least 20 construction workers were going at the road with jackhammers. Twenty jackhammers all at once putting stress on the bridge. The speeds were about 10 mph through there, so I got a good look at the large truck trailers parked on the bridge. Wednesday afternoon, I had to get to a video shoot down south.

I had a Premonition.
It was a little before 5:00 pm when I left. All during the previous week, I imagined the calamity of being under a large bridge if it happened to collapse. One strong vision came upon me as I was driving underneath the Interstate 94 bridge along the river road. The vision was quite vivid. Tonight, I decided to avoid 35W altogether. It ended up taking perhaps an extra ten minutes, but I didn't feel like being another rat in the maze along the most busiest stretch of road in the state at 5:00 pm.

The Shock hits Home
I heard about the 35W bridge collapse about 35 minutes after it happened. It took me about 5 minutes to register the reality of the situation as I watched remote cameras focused on the scene. I was shocked to see thick black smoke billowing up, then i gasped as i saw flames shooting out of a truck. It got worse, each moment on TV revealed crushed cars, submerged vehicles. This happened during rush hour, my mind figured dozens dead. No way people could survive plummeting down perhaps a hundred feet into the river.


My Sister, someone's Wife, another's Son, Could have been on that Bridge.
Then I realised that my sister would possibly go that way coming home from work. I tried her cell phone, but only got her voicemail. I tried her home number, but the network was jammed. I finally got a hold of her about an hour later. But that moment of possibility that a loved one could've been on that bridge, occurred to perhaps tens of thousands of people around the Twin Cities. About 100,000 cars pass over that bridge everyday.

The Twins Baseball Game
It will probably be found that a good number of people on the bridge at the time were going to a Twins game. The game was still played, mainly because it would not be a good idea to have another 20,000 people crowding the streets and highways merely blocks from the tragedy. The Twins connection may have strange repercussions. Already, they are cancelling the groundbreaking for their new stadium.

Miracles amidst the Tragedy
But what has dawned upon me is how lucky that this collapse occurred where it did. There are at least 3 major hospitals only a couple miles nearby. The Twin Cities Red Cross center is literally a block from the bridge. The bridge is on the edge of downtown, where many emergency vehicles made their way from where they were centrally located. But also, since it will take perhaps 2 years to build a new bridge, there are alternatives nearby. Another major artery, Interstate 94, is just about 3 miles down river. It has 3 lanes in each direction. There also a couple other major arteries that parallel the area 35W normally covers. Plus there are a multitude of bridges up and down the Mississippi (including one just a few yards away). Also, because of construction being done, the same stretch of 35W had been closed a few times over previous weekends. So detour signs and other orange barriers were already in place, as well as many local drivers already coping with the weekend closings.

A Historic Day in Twin Cities History
All I know is that I had loud messages coming to me before this unique event for the Twin Cities. I thought to myself, this is kind of like our own 9/11 (but not really since no terrorism was involved). It will probably take a little bit to let the fact sink in that I could've possibly been on that bridge, which I normally took at least twice a day. The death toll was 9 around midnight Wednesday, which I found amazing that it wasn't immediately much more. The grim reality is that there are certainly more bodies to be found on Thursday, but there are miracles already. A school bus, seconds from being over the river, only fell to the ground along the river bank.

Final Thoughts
On June 3rd, 1984, I had just walked out of a concert at 1st Avenue in downtown Minneapolis to discover that a concrete parking ramp had collapsed next door. We watched into the night as cranes came in to see if anyone was inside any of the dozens of crushed cars. Today, the spectacular helicopter footage slowy panned across the 1/4 mile stretch, showing dozens of heroic rescues in progress. Each second I saw a life and death moment occurring, with many civilians helping. I think there will be national repercussions for such a dramatic event. Bridges will be evaluated, phobias will rise. Everyone in this town will also talk to their neighbor, just to feel lucky to be alive.


Update: 8/04/07
The President Keeps it Quiet
President Bush visited the bridge collapse site today, thankfully for just a short time in the morning, no Katrina-like speeches. Really, this is not a national catastrophe. It's visually stunning, but something far far from everyone's initial fears. As expected, this turned into a national event, no longer confined to the local media. Talk of deficient bridges across the country, and penny pinching by the Dept of Transportation.

The Perfect Storm
There is speculation of harmonic modulation, similar to the famous bridge that fluttered in the wind. In this case, there may have been a convergence of extra vibration from several jackhammers going at once, and a freight train rolling right next to one of the supports. There are reports of a ripple or rolling wave occurring, causing the center span to separate and travel 81 feet horizontally. Currently the death toll is a miraculous 5 - with perhaps only 8 people missing. Coincidences abound with a UPS driver noticing a friend driving next to him as they both drove on to the bridge. Also come stories of passers by that happen to have first responder training, finding their way within minutes of the collapse.

The Day After
I have not seen the site since it happened. The day after it happened, I had to travel that direction, and felt a hard reaction to facing a spot where such carnage took place. I detoured down river, with heavy traffic on all local streets as every driver tried to come up with their own plan of getting across the river.

The Future
What will become of the National Republican Convention next year? How will they shape their message around the location of bridge collapse? What will the candidates have to include in their agenda to acknowledge what this city has gone through? In the future, how will this event change the Twin Cities? My guess is that 10 years from now, it will be only a memory.