Bridge over Mississippi on I-35W in Minneapolis collapses

[BrewCrewInMN]

I drove that bridge twice today, including just an hour before it went down....absolutely floored by this and praying that I did not know anyone that was on it. I live 8 blocks from there. I drive it twice every day. My neighborhood is out of control and this is something that I just cannot believe. No words to truly describe it. Traffic will be awful for a year(s) while this is repaired. Just cannot believe this is real and thought I am not religious praying for all of the families and loved ones of the deceased, which is currently at 7.

[TheCrew07]

I too drove that bridge twice a day, in fact I lived just north west of it off of University Ave for a couple of years of college. It's weird seeing the pictures of the collapse as I remember it differently obviously. Thankfully none of my friends from the cities were near the bridge at the time.

[SeriesFinale]

Seven dead so far, during the back cusp of rush hour downtown...obviously that's seven too many but I'd say they were very lucky

 

Who knows what the morning will bring, though.

[pitchleague]

have they got everybody off the downed part of the bridge yet? I haven't turned on the tv in hours to check.

[PeaveyFury]

Good news is that the death toll has been lowered to 4 this morning, per CNN.

[thevaccinator27]

My guess is that has got to climb. There are likley cars in the river that they haven't found yet.

 

Additionally, it is a stroke of luck that it was bumper to bumer and only 1 or 2 lanes open. If cars were tavelling freeway speeds when that thing fell, a lot more cars would be invovled, both on the bridge, and those unable to stop coming on to the bridge.

[Bruce Ciskie]

Good news is that the death toll has been lowered to 4 this morning, per CNN.

It'll probably go back up, sadly. 20-something still missing.

[Tedaldtada]

I am a current U of MN student who lives in the uptown area of Minneapolis (just South of downtown). Anyways, there have been plenty of school days where I am on that bridge four to eight times a day trecking back and forth from campus to home. I always take that bridge and get off at the University exit right where it collapsed. I was down there this morning trying to get a look at the wreckage and it is truley even more unbelievable when witnessed in person. Around 1500 ft of eight lane hwy in the Mississippi River with a freaking freight train stuck underneath it. It happened just after 6 pm Mpls. time and there was bumper to bumper traffic on the brigde due to rush hour and ongoing contruction. In fact, many more would have died if not for two lanes in each direction being closed due to the construction, which was purely cosmetic I'm told. The brigde at its highest is 65 ft. above the river, so we are talking a six story drop.

 

I was not on the bridge yesterday, but was on Tuesday a couple of times. Its wierd to think that was the last time I will ever be on that bridge. I sure had no idea at the time.

 

My heart goes out to everyone that has been affected by this catastrophy.

 

Note: Minneapolis Blood Banks are asking for donations today to help with the increased demand for blood. This should be a reminder to everyone in any city that you can never have enough donated blood around.

[unsanitary999]

Yeah, another U of M student here.

 

I'm living elsewhere/working elsewhere for the summer, but it's still a little unnerving when you don't know exactly which of your friends that live there are alive or whatnot.

[TabbertBB]

I just wish the media would get their facts straight before they turn the death toll into an auction. Last night night they had the total up to 7 and now today it is 4-- what happened to the 3, were they brought back to life?? I don't mean to be smart about it, but get the facts correct. Last night they were reporting that this was a bridge with 2 lanes both ways and one lane on each side was closed. That also was incorrect. It has 8 lanes total.

The media so much wanted there to be a second bus full of kids that would be missing so they would have something to panic about.

Now they are searching for explosions that might have blew up the bridge. Enough. It is bad, but don't try to make it worse (or seem to want it worse).

And now I just heard on TV-- the total of over 60 "wounded"-- like this was a war or something. Please media, calm down.

[chuckiehacks]

Video of the collapse here

[sauveb]

The report of 7 last night came from a policeman that was quoted that he had seen 7 deceased. The report of 4 is from those that have been positively identified so far. The rescue teams are now in recovery mode and it is quite possible that the number of deaths will rise.

[TabbertBB]

I was just reading on another board this morning that a local TV station had the total up to 12 last night.

[Katuluu]

I was going into a screening right when this happened, and luckily no one I knew was anywhere near the bridge. I can't even imagine how many times I have driven over that bridge, easily in the thousands. It's truly a tragic accident.

[jazzytrav]

This whole thing was just tragic. My brother and his fiancee live in Minneapolis so I called them right away to see if they were okay. Luckily they just happened to be in Milwaukee for the game last night. Thank God for the Brewers http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[igor67]

Watching the news this morning the local reporter was about to explain why the death toll had been revised but was then cut off for them to cut to Bush's remarks. It sounded like the revision in the death toll was due to a change in how they were counting either waiting for positive ID or perhaps more gruesomely most of the body to turn up.

[Bruce Ciskie]

The Twins will play as scheduled tomorrow night.

[mls4]

A former co-worker's wife was lost in the collapse, in fact he has been all over the news. I didn't know him real well, but he still kept in touch and I talked to him on Monday. I never met her, but I feel awful for Ron.