For the Out-of-Towners

For my readers who aren't in state:

Yes, the bridge collapsed on I35W yesterday, and yes, we're fine. No, we don't drive that stretch, in fact, we chose a suburb specifically to avoid 35W.

Yes, the bridge was being resurfaced and was down to one lane in both directions. It does not appear that the resurfacing could have been involved in the collapse, but we won't know for months or years. They aren't ruling anything in or out at this point. Although there is nothing to suggest sabotage, they are treating the area at a crime scene for now.

As of midnight last night, the rescue operation became a recovery operation. There are definitely people in cars above the water that they know are dead, but couldn't extract because they couldn't get to them or because it wasn't safe for the rescuers. I have heard reports of anywhere from 20-50 cars lying just below the surface of the river, most certainly containing people who couldn't escape or were killed in the collapse. As of this afternoon, the official death toll was still at 4 because the recovery operation could not begin until engineers could judge the safety of the collapsed bridge and build locks to lower the level of the river and slow the current around the wreckage.

79 people were injured, but stories of incredible heroism are already emerging. People who were climbing out of their own cars after the fall raced to the school bus full of children - all of whom made it out alive after the bus miraculously landed on its wheels after the sudden drop.

The bridge was officially rated as "structurally deficient". There almost 80,000 bridges in the US with the same rating, 1100 in Minnesota. MnDOT has rated 42 bridges in worse shape than the one that collapsed yesterday. Three bridges of the same design were inspected today.

I don't know anyone (yet) who was lost yesterday, or who was even on the bridge when it happened. Several stories of near misses. All at work were accounted for this morning. My friends have mostly reported in.

It will take years to rebuild this major artery into the city. MetroTransit is running extra buses to try to ease traffic into downtown and another road has been reclassified as a freeway to compensate (they turned off the stoplights and blocked entry and exit to the road from most intersections).

MnDOT turned off the traffic cameras pointing at the bridge today, or at least stopped streaming them on their website. I can only imagine it is to protect the public and the families from images of the recovery effort currently underway. We may not know the final death toll for days or weeks - the current is strong in the river and the twisted metal is blocking many of the submerged vehicles.

Give blood if you can. I will be donating next week at our regular donation day at work to help replenish the blood supplies.