About 3 hours ago, a major bridge across the Mississippi river collapsed during rush hour in Minneapolis. I-35W is a large traffic artery in the Twin Cities, and this bridge carries an average of 100K-200K cars every day. It's very close to the U of Minnesota (MSP Campus), and near Dinkytown.

Breaking news shows six dead, six in life-threatening condition, and dozens (possibly hundreds) with 'minor' injuries. The whole bridge just fell down with no apparant warning. We're not just talking about some of the bridge, but the entire thing. The section over the river, the sections that run to the land, everything.

The bridge was an "over-under" span, with a road bridge over a rail bridge. There was a train loaded with tanker cars on the bridge when the road span collapsed on top of it.

Eyewitness reports say that there "had to have been" hundreds of cars bumper-to-bumper on the bridge at the time of the collapse. There was construction ongoing on the bridge, but not structural: pothole fixes and that sort of thing.

Fortunately, Ph.Duck's family, many of whom drive this bridge every day, have all checked in: everybody's okay.

I lived in Minnesota for two years, and have driven across this bridge dozens of times. I'm just... stunned.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 02:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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