Jayber - Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

This article was posted to Jayber on 3 August 2007 by to the following categories: Stories.

An audio version of this article is also available.

9 responses have been written

Heavy

I was right there too, on my bike about 10-15 minutes after the collapse. The initial radio reports were really understated so I expected to see maybe a car or two in a rough spot because of a bridge malfunction. When I saw the whole ~2000 feet of it smoking and burning on the the river flats I could hardly believe it.

Rachel

Mark, so glad that you were running late that day.

Annette

Praise God you are safe!

Aunt Meryle

My concerns were especially for my family there. I’m so glad my loved ones were not on the bridge. I pray in gratitude for those who survived and pray for those who did not.

PAT

Im glad you are OK.
I know there are still people missing.
And maybe its just me, but it seems like ‘we’ are moving on already.
I hope thats not the case.

Yura

Mark, glad you are safe!

Julie

Thank God you are safe. We have a few tense moments that night as Allison was unable to reach her boyfriend Andy for about 1 1/2 hrs. He was going to the airport to pick up his sister, and she was not sure of his round from N. Mpls. down to airport. He is fine, and was not near the collapse, so we are grateful for that as well as the safety of others of our family/friends who missed the tragedy by “just that much.”

Julie

My goodness, I should proofread before hitting “send” — of course, we were unsure of Andy’s ROUTE that night. Oh well …

Olga

Even when we are late, we still need to be happy, because who kows how it could end if we were not… God is Good!!!
Take care and hello to your family.

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Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Twin-Cities Tragedy

As I'm sure all of you have heard by now, the I-35W bridge, spanning the Mississippi river, collapsed on Wednesday. My family and close friends are OK, but it hit close to home. I arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the collapse on my bike (not knowing anything that was going on), to find that my normal bike path was destroyed. Good thing I was running late I guess.

I spent 2 hours riding my bike around the bridge in astonishment at what had just happened. There were already emergency crews on the scene, and they didn't want any help from civilians. There were cars and trucks in the river, and a bus full of school children that was sitting katywampus on the edge.

A few things I noticed:

The air smelled like burning rubber, and a number of people were already wearing scarves around their faces because of all the dust in the air.
A couple of civilians took it upon themselves to start directing traffic on University near the 35W on-ramps and exit-ramps but were getting yelled at by angry motorists.
Many emergency crews from around Minnesota started rolling in about an hour after the collapse. There were rescue boats, a floating crane, fire trucks, lots of undercover police cars, and a city bus that was converted so that it's LED sign read "RESCUE BUS".
Lots of pedestrians from the University of Minnesota were roaming around trying to take pictures and get a closer look. Some people were crying; some people were laughing; some people were getting their picture taken like a tourist; a large number of people were on their cell phones.

I heard an estimate through the news that 150,000 - 200,000 people travel that bridge every day. Every one of those people are probably saying the same thing right now: "I could have died." In fact, I've heard many people say just that. It's a strangely unifying tragedy.

One of my friends works with someone who is among the missing. Another one of my friends works with someone who broke their back in the collapse. Also, one person I work with (a Mechanical Engineer) went down with the bridge in his truck, but amazingly walked away with only scrapes and bruises.

Video:

≡ 3 Aug 2007 • tags: bridge-collapse minneapolis news tragedy

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