Minneapolis Bridge Collapses
At 6:05 pm this evening all eight lanes of the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed. There was extensive maintenance ongoing all over this stretch of 35W--one of the Twin Cities' major arteries, which carries some 140,000 cars per day according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Itâ''s three hours later, 6 deaths reported to go with 60 injured, but according to the fire department that all people who could be rescued have been. There were at least dozens of vehicles on that 2000 foot long bridge when it went down, and reports state that at least 50 ended up in the river. People claim to have heard a bang before the collapse. Others recall jackhammers. Inspections in 2005 and 2006 showed no major structural problems; 2020 was "the engineering estimate" to rehab the bridge, according to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who spoke at a news conference tonight. He confirmed that there was work ongoing on the bridge, mostly surface concrete repair, but he did mention that there was work being done â''on the joints.â''
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