I am currently in suburban Minneapolis, watching the televised response to the collapse of the 35W bridge over the Mississippi River. What follows are a few spot, shocked reactions to the news.
Earlier this evening, roughly 10-15 minutes before the collapse, I was riding from the Minneapolis airport into downtown Minneapolis, and I passed within three blocks of the bridge. At the time, the neighborhood was filled with Minnesota Twins fans heading into the Metrodome for a game with the Kansas City Royals. Ten minutes later, I was in a downtown restaurant, some ten blocks from the bridge, sharing dinner with a friend, when the televisions, tuned to the Twins pre-game, suddenly flashed to local news and images of a collapsed bridge. It took a couple of minutes before most of the patrons (including me) noticed that the bridge was in Minneapolis – and not somewhere more dramatic – but when they did, there were gasps, expletives, and several “I drive over that every day.” I think everyone in the bar pulled out cell phones to call friends and family. Fairly quickly, local news stations posted crawls asking locals not to use cell phones unless there was an emergency purpose.
It’s hard to know what to do in a situation like this. I felt strange finishing dinner while a catastrophe was unfolding up the street, and yet neither me, my friend, nor anyone else could come up with anything else to do.
Minneapolis is a small city, and I can’t imagine that this tragedy will remain in the national or international consciousness for more than a few days. But in Minneapolis, my home town, this is the worst disaster since the Washburn A grain mill explosion in 1878. Practically speaking, this will be significant: 35W is the most traveled highway in Minnesota, and the collapsed section is a key artery for Twin Cities traffic. Equally important, for the last two years the Minnesota legislature has been engaged in a bitter debate with Governor Tim Pawlenty over road construction and maintenance funds; that debate has just been altered.
One of the oddest aspects of this catastrophe is the fact that – as the response unfolds – the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals continue to play only two blocks away from the collapsed bridge(the game is being televised, even!). Initially, I was outraged, but the Twins have reasonably explained that they did not want to release a large crowd onto the streets as the initial response was underway. What a strange burden for the players, knowing that they are being employed to serve as a distraction for an emergency response. According to the KARE 11 crawl, tomorrow’s game will be postponed.
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Finally, several years ago I lived two blocks from the bridge – my living room window looked down upon it from seven floors up. When I first moved in, I had my desk against a wall, but after a few months I decided to press it up against the window. Over the course of a year I spent many days and nights working there, often pausing to stare at the Mississippi, and the 35W bridge. I have distinct memories of watching rush hour traffic jammed along the span – in the late afternoon, there can be dozens of cars stopped on the deck at any given time – and being grateful that I didn’t have a job that required me to commute. Of course, I never imagined that rush hour could have such tragic consequences. My prayers are with the victims, the survivors, the rescue responders – and all of their families.
[Update: The good folks over at MNspeak have an interesting thread going on the collapse. For those interested in local reactions, that’s the place to visit.]
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