Bridge over Mississippi on I-35W in Minneapolis collapses

[And That]

I don't have a link, but I'm watching it on TV right now. My word... I drove on the thing last night.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yikes. Glad you were there yesterday & not today, A-T

[foamboy1]

Thanks...just called my brother who lives in Minny. He didn't even know about it.

[brettac1]

Wow.

[And That]

It was during rush hour, and for people who don't live here, the portion of the bridge that collapsed was directly outside of downtown Minneapolis. Eyewitness accounts say somewhere between 50-100 cars, trucks and buses were on the bridge at the time of the collapse. At least one school bus (all the children were rescued). A number of vehicle fires. Just... wow.

[SeriesFinale]

Wow, this reminds me of the Skyway Bridge collapse in Tampa Bay when I was a kid...of course, that was at 5 AM

 

I really hope there aren't as many fatalities as that (a Greyhound bus went down that day)

[parkside21]

I don't really have any words, but I'm watching this on MSNBC right now instead of the game. Omigod.

[gypcasino]

Just tried to call my brother. I'm sure he's fine but he's got a 651 area code on his cell phone and at first all I could get was static & now I get the all circuits busy message.

[JoeHova]

Dang, my wife drove on that bridge today. I wonder what happened? I hope everybody is ok, but I think I saw a body bag on CNN just now.

 

This is crazy, when the Hoan bridge collapsed it only fell a few feet. This one totally went down and landed in the Mississippi. This will gridlock traffic in the Twin Cities for months, although that's obviously the least of anyone's concerns right now.

[parkside21]

It's weird, looking at this bridge on a map, it only crosses the water for about 1/10th of a mile, so it doesn't seem to be that long of a bridge, at least the portion that crosses water anyway, it must be due to the construction, you would think a bridge that short would be sturdy.

 

The bridge is also very near the dome, and the Twins are playing at home tonight. The collapse happened at 6ish, you can only imagine how many of those people were headed to the Twins game. I just checked the box score and it's in the middle of the first, I can't believe they are playing baseball in the dome tonight....

[gypcasino]

Yep, that's gotta be creepy being at the game, looking at the empty seats next to you and wondering...

[jaybird2001wi]

Kind of reminds me of a more extreme version of what happened with the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee.

[brewdude15]

3 fatalities have been reported, but a police officer reported he saw at least 7. At least 50-100 cars were on the bridge when it collapsed. There are people still stranded on parts of the bridge that didn't collapse. Breaking News reports are on CNN and MSNBC.

[jaybird2001wi]

The freeway was being rebuilt through this summer I heard. What is worse is that when the bridge collapsed, a tanker truck started on fire and there was a school bus nearby. Why do I get the feeling there will be at least 40 fatalities by the end of all of this?

[Bruce Ciskie]

Couple things...

 

If you're trying to get a hold of people by cell phone, don't. They're advising no cell phone use because lines are getting jammed.

 

Also, that bridge is right by the exit to the Metrodome for people going there from the north. There were probably a ton of people on their way to tonight's game that were on that bridge.

 

The game is going on, and officials say they're encouraging people to stay at the game until it's over to give authorities more time to assess what's going on without throngs of traffic to direct.

[Bruce Ciskie]

The freeway was being rebuilt through this summer I heard. What is worse is that when the bridge collapsed, a tanker truck started on fire and there was a school bus nearby. Why do I get the feeling there will be at least 40 fatalities by the end of all of this?

The kids on that bus are all okay! Unfortunately, others aren't.

FYI the Twins game tomorrow afternoon has been postponed.

[JumpinMacFlash]

The game is going on

 

I understand the reasoning behind this, trying to prevent a panic and continue rescue efforts, but with tomorrow's game postponed, shouldn't they put tonight's game on hold as well and just have everyone still stay at the Metrodome?

[jaybird2001wi]

I wonder what the Metrodome officials are gonna do when the game is over and the fans are forced to stick around. Maybe they should show movies on the jumbotron and still serve food.

[Bruce Ciskie]

The game is going on

 

I understand the reasoning behind this, trying to prevent a panic and continue rescue efforts, but with tomorrow's game postponed, shouldn't they put tonight's game on hold as well and just have everyone still stay at the Metrodome?

That's a valid point, but I don't know how viable it would be to get ~20,000 people to understand why they have to stay there even though there is no game going on.

I think it's the right thing to do, as long as they're helping fans who don't have phones to get a hold of loved ones who may have been involved. I know phone communication down there sucks right now, but I can't imagine sitting at a ballgame if someone I love may have been on that bridge.

[Bruce Ciskie]

I wonder what the Metrodome officials are gonna do when the game is over and the fans are forced to stick around. Maybe they should show movies on the jumbotron and still serve food.

It's going to take a while to get things figured out, but there are a few ways out of the Metrodome area that don't involve that bridge or that freeway. It's a matter of getting authorities configured to direct the traffic because there may very well be people who don't know where they're going (i.e. people who went to the game from St. Cloud, Hinckley, or Duluth who don't know the Cities highway system that well and might not be intimately familiar with any other way out of there).

 

[And That]

It is easy to get out of Minneapolis without using 35W, as long as you know where you're going. Like Bruce said, that is the biggest problem. The Twins announcers are talking about the next few games also being postponed, but that is furthest from the mind of a lot of people.

[gypcasino]

Big Dig who?

[hawing]

Good heavens. This is certainly a time when you say a little prayer.

 

I've never been a big fan of bridges. In two years of living in Green Bay (some time ago), I think I managed to drive across the Tower Drive Bridge (I forget what it's named now) only once. But even the drawbridges closer to downtown made me a little antsy.

[igor67]

I don't think the traffic escape is that huge of a deal. We were at the Brewer game this year and the light rail line went out during the game and stranded a ton of people who had taken it to the game. Overall though it's just unbelievable.

[dadofandrew]

We lived in the Cities 6 years, and for 5 of them, we did not know how to find 94E when we left the Dome. We often just got on 35W, went S to an exit, and turned around at a ramp, and then got on 94E that way. Once, we missed our turn, and went a few blocks out of our way, and mistakenly found a ramp to 94E. The sign was literally a few feet from the ramp...I guess it'd be silly to have signs directing you to a major interstate.

 

So no, many people will have no clue how to get out of Mpls after the game, but there are many methods.