35W bridge collapse − 1 August, 2007

we were sitting on the couch waiting to hear from friends about going out. the first i heard of it was a twitter from cindi (dear internet, i love you for making me instantly aware of things). we switched on the tv news right away, and there it was. i had figured it was a part of the interstate out of town or in a not-well-traveled area, but no: it was the span over the mississippi river, right in downtown minneapolis, in the middle of rush hour. we drive over that bridge at least twice a week.

i felt like my city was hurt. it was a really sad time. i walked over there from work the next day (i'm only 6 blocks away). you couldn't see much of it, just one end of the bridge sticking up in the air, and nothing where it used to be. the police had the whole area blocked off for quite a while. in the end, 13 people died (can you imagine your car falling into the mississippi river?), and a hundred were hurt.

they're doing a good job of rebuilding it quickly. the footings are in place, and the new bridge is supposed to open a year from now.