[NYTr] Crumbling Empire: Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Kills at Least Four

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Crumbling Amerikkkan Empire ....

AP - Aug 2, 2007
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070802/D8QOSV501.html

Death Toll Dips to 4 in Bridge Collapse

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Authorities lowered the death toll from an
interstate bridge collapse to four Thursday, but warned the final
number could change as divers comb the twisted steel and chunks of
concrete that crashed into the Mississippi River.

Police Lt. Amelia Huffman said: "This morning, the medical examiner's
office only has four sets of remains." Initial reports of seven people
killed were based on the best estimates authorities had Wednesday
night, she said.

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was
in the midst of being repaired and two lanes in each direction were
closed when the bridge buckled during evening rush hour Wednesday.

Crews planned to resume their cleanup and recovery work Thursday
morning. Fire Chief Jim Clack said officials didn't expect to find any
more survivors.

More than 20 families gathered in a hotel ballroom early Thursday,
waiting for word on loved ones who couldn't be located.

"I've never wanted to see my brother so much in my life," said Kristi
Foster, who went to an information center set up at a Holiday Inn
looking for her brother Kirk. She hadn't had contact with her brother
or his girlfriend, Krystle Webb, since the previous night.

More than 60 people were injured and as many as 50 vehicles were in the
river, many of their occupants having scrambled to shore. The collapse
did not appear to be terrorism-related.

Some injured people were carried up the riverbank, while emergency
workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water
to look for survivors. Fire and black smoke rose from the wreckage.

Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said the death toll could rise. "We
think there are several more vehicles in the river we can't see yet,"
he said Wednesday.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the bridge was inspected by the Minnesota
Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and that no immediate
structural problems were noted. "There were some minor things that
needed attention," he said.

"They notified us from an engineering standpoint the deck might need to
be rehabilitated or replaced in 2020 or beyond," Pawlenty said
Wednesday.

The 40-year-old bridge was rated as "structurally deficient" two years
ago and possibly in need of replacement, the Star Tribune reported. The
newspaper said that rating was contained in the U.S. Department of
Transportation's National Bridge Inventory database.

"We've seen it, and we are very familiar with it," Jeanne Aamodt, a
spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said of the
2005 assessment of the bridge.

Aamodt noted that many other bridges around the country carry the same
designation that the I-35W bridge received. She declined to say what
the agency was going to do to address the deficiencies found in 2005.

Road crews were working on the bridge's joints, guardrails and lights
this week, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday. The
bridge was fitted in 2001 with a computerized anti-icing system that
sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to
documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Web
site.

There were 18 construction workers on the bridge at the time of the
collapse, said Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive
Contractors Inc., in St. Michael. One of the workers was unaccounted
for.

Sloan said his crew was placing concrete finish on the bridge for what
he called a routine resurfacing project. "It was the final item on this
phase of the project. Suddenly the bridge gave way," he said.

Sloan said his workers described a horrific scene. "They said they
basically rode the bridge down to the water. They were sliding into
cars and cars were sliding into them," he said.

The entire span of Interstate 35W crumpled into the river below. Some
injured people were carried up the riverbank, while emergency workers
tended to others on the ground.

A school bus had crossed the bridge before it collapsed. The bus did
not go into the water, and broadcast reports indicated the children on
the bus exited out the back door.

Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus,
returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in Blaine. She said her
daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.

"She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,'" Swift said. All the kids
got off the bus safely, but about 10 of the children were injured,
officials said.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said he spoke with Transportation Secretary
Mary Peters, and that both of them along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar,
D-Minn., will be flying to the Twin Cities early Thursday.

The collapsed bridge stood just blocks from the heart of Minneapolis,
near tourist attractions like the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone
Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers
circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins
T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night's game at the nearby
Metrodome early.

Thursday's game between the Twins and Kansas City Royals was called
off, but the Twins decided to go ahead with Wednesday's rather than
sending about 25,000 fans back out onto the congested highways. Inside
the stadium, there was a moment of silence to honor victims.

The steel-arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rose about 64 feet
above the river and stretched about 1,900 feet across the water. The
bridge was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid
putting any piers in the water that might interfere with river
navigation.

The river's depth at the bridge was not immediately available, but the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel depth of at least 9
feet in the Upper Mississippi from Minneapolis southward to allow for
barge and other river traffic. The site is just downstream from the St.
Anthony Falls locks and dams.

[Associated Press Writers Brian Bakst and Patrick Condon contributed
to this report from Minneapolis; Martiga Lohn contributed to this
report from St. Paul.]

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All right reserved.