What did you learn from the 35W bridge disaster?
Posted at 6:00 AM on July 31, 2009
by Eric Ringham
(17 Comments)
Filed under: Security, Transportation
Two years ago this weekend, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. The incident cost 13 lives and injured scores of people, and it prompted accelerated bridge inspections in Minnesota and around the country. On this anniversary, do you feel any safer? What did you learn from the 35W bridge disaster?
Feel "safer" on the roads? My safety on the roads has nothing to do with how well they're maintained and everything to do with other drivers to compare the two dangers. Let's not loose focus. -anonymous text message
I am a civil engineer and while my industry has known for a long time that our infrastructure is desperately underfunded I think the bridge collapse illustrated this to the public. -anonymous text message
I learned that a highly incentivized private company and a government out of the way can work quickly, safely and under budget. -anonymous text message
I learned -- or was reminded that people are good. -anonymous text message
Share your reply in the comments: What did you learn from the 35W bridge disaster?
Comments (17)
Life is precious. The symbolism for a bridge was real that day. Life is a continum, a journey, a path.
My immediate reaction, the day of the collapse, was, "Oh, dear, how embarassing for Minnesota."
This state has, for generations, believed it could provide cradle-to-grave safety for all. I guess government can't fix everything all the time, can it?
I learned that to many of the polititions that profess to be the keepers of our nations future are so short sighted that they cannot see beyond the next election campaign. They are in fact not the keepers of our great nations future but in fact are slowly distroying it. We are no longer a nation of selflessness, where people are elected to promote the common good to one of selfishness, who elect people not on what they can do for our nation but what they can do for me and for today. Nobody will starve if our individual congressional delegation does not bring home the pork but we sure will not re-elect them either. Gordy
Old lessons learned anew:
Nothing in this world is free.
People are responsible for thier govenrment and what it does.
Taxes are a necessary part of a functioning govenrment and we get what we [don't] pay for.
diligence increases after accidents.
I learned that if a bridge is originally designed to be a four lane bridge, you shouldn't turn it into a eight lane bridge!
I drove under that bridge (on Ms Blvd) every day for 3 years. It was in terrible shape, easily apparent to anyone with 20/20 vision. What I learned is that giving the rich a break on their taxes can have mortal consequences, and that electing a dogmatic demagogue such as Pawlenty was a literally grave mistake. Did you know that our MN budget shortfall is roughly equal to the tax breaks the rich have had since Pawlenty took office?
I learned that everybody makes mistakes, and nothing is perfect.
After 2 years, todays (7-31-09) Bing page has a photo of Mpls skyline over the river with the 10th Ave Bridge in front of the OLD 35W BRIDGE...
What have I learned?
Microsoft should have a care.
I RE-Learned that Republicans try to be penny wise, but too often they are proven to be pound foolish. Now they are suing the contractor who told them what they wanted to hear, after they fired a contractor that told them the bridge needed work. The state should not sue contractors, they should sue Tim "lead me to the poor house" Pawlenty
First and foremost- there was no reason for the bridge to fall.
The freeway needs to be closed if there is required bridge work to be done. Leaving the 35W bridge open during repair was an obvious mistake- and the history of the failing structure prooves it.
Each of these projects has an on-site inspector to "watch- over" the work. It is on his approval that the tasks are completed.
How such a heavy load of sand, gravel rubble, trucks and equipment was allowed on the bridge baffles me.
I wonder if it was a financial decission..?
I learned the depressing lesson that the Tim Pawlenty Republican type of tax-bashing economics effectively amounts to social CANNIBALISM, wherein essential state functions are being cut out for the sake of lowering taxes alone.
In general over the past thirty years, this small-government cannibalistic attitude has been stripping our nation of the infrastructure that made us the greatest state in the world. This time, it deprived our state of bridge-structural monitoring services and cost 13 Minnesotans their lives.
Who knows what other necessary state services have been dissected away as seemingly useless luxuries merely in the name of money-making, inviting new disasters in consequence?
I learned that we can't take things for granted. While the state and federal governments are busy fighting each other during the financial crisis, it is important to remember that basic, every day needs are vital to the safety and welfare of our citizens. We need to remind our representatives that while spending less may appeal to their constituents, these cuts might come at a far greater cost.
Taxes matter.
Not everything is the "fat in government." We'll see how unallotment works...
I was reminded of the 35W anniversary when I heard on the MPR radio that the Department of Transportation was justified in hiring a out of state contractor.
With the poor state of conditions we currently are in I can not agree that the Transportation Department could not find qualified local contractors to hire.
Imagine how that would have lower the rate of unemployment in Minnesota
Minnesota governments (state, county, local) work reasonably well to serve their citizens during emergencies but not so much in their everyday duties and responsibilities to their citizens.
I was inspired by the communication and coordination of our emergency services in the Twin Cities. That made me feel very safe.
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