35W Bridge Disaster
Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 by JeffOur prayers go out to those affected by the 35W bridge collapse that happened yesterday at 6:05 pm in downtown Minneapolis. We heard about it around 6:30 from Len, Rachel’s dad who called us to tell us the news. My dad called us at about 6:45 to ask what we knew about it…he and my mom were out to eat at a restaurant and had been told by the waiter that a bridge had collapsed.
This disaster, although it has not caused anyone we know of to be hurt, is disturbing nonetheless. I’ve personally probably travelled over that bridge thousands of times over the years, and also travelled under it on the West River Road or SE 2nd Street. I went to the University of Minnesota from 1988-1993; I lived in the Seven Corners Apartments right next to 35W in 1992-93; Rachel lived in the Dinkytown area from 1995-96; I had classes for my MSSE program in the West Bank Office Building of the U of M right by the bridge; and all the other countless times driving over that bridge to get to destinations north of the river…
I sincerely hope that some good will come from this tragedy. It was heartening to hear about the bystanders who stopped to help people without hesitating to worry about their own safety. And hopefully once the cause of the collapse is found, bridge safety around the state and country can be improved.
This is a picture of the I35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. In the background is the Seven Corners Apartments building, where Jeff lived in 1992-93.
An aerial view of the collapsed 35W bridge:
