Finding the trigger for

last weeks sudden collapse

of a highway bridge over
the Mississippi River will
take hands-on sleuthing
and sophisticated computer
models that simulate how
giant steel girders can snap
in two, federal investigators
said Sunday.
The National Transpor-
tation Safety Board (NTSB)
is employing both methods,
and veterans of investiga-
tions into major structural
disasters say its only a mat-
ter of time before a key clue
pops out of the twisted steel
and rubble or the computer
simulation.
Im confdent that
theyll fnd the cause of
this, said Gene Corley, a
private engineer who has
investigated numerous di-
sasters including the World
Trade Center collapse on
Sept. 11, 2001.
So far, NTSB Chair-
man Mark Rosenker has
been cautious at briefngs
near the wreckage of the
Interstate 35W bridge that
buckled during rush hour
Wednesday night, saying it
will take many months be-
fore completing the investi-
gation. The collapse killed
at least fve people and
eight are listed as missing.
It took fve months after
the fatal July 10, 2006, ceil-
ing collapse of a highway
tunnel in Boston before in-
vestigators zeroed in on the
cause: an improper epoxy
glue used to attach ceiling
panels to the tunnel. A full
year was required before
NTSB issued its fnal re-
port.
Investigators have spent
See INTO THE RIVER on page 4
The Lake Wobegonian
MINNEAPOLIS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2005
The bridge shown here collapsed into the Mighty Mississippi yesterday and took an unknown number of drivers with it offcials say.
Minnesota Bridge Replacement
on Fast Track According to Gov.
John Smith
Against the shock of a
mighty spans inexplicable
fall at rush hour, into
the nations greatest river
bridge experts offer this
reassurance: The same fed-
erally mandated inspections
that show one-quarter of
U.S. bridges to be structur-
ally defcient or function-
ally obsolete also indicate
theyre in very little danger
of collapsing.
Of course, thats what
the same experts would
have said about the Inter-
state 35W bridge in Min-
neapolis before it crashed
down Wednesday.
As rescue crews
searched the Mississippi
River on Thursday for what
could be up to 30 more vic-
tims beyond the four con-
frmed dead, it was clear
that the bridges sudden fail-
ure like a similar one 40
years ago in West Virginia
that inspired the inspection
system could put a new
focus on the nations decay-
ing bridges.
Across the nation
Thursday, there was a fresh
urgency on improving in-
frastructure the roads,
bridges, utilities and other
basics of modern life that
arent always the most pop-
ular spending priorities for
governments.
U.S. Transportation
Secretary Mary Peters and
several governors ordered
safety reviews for thousands
of bridges, especially those
similar to the steel-deck
truss span that collapsed
in Minneapolis. There are
about 700 such bridges in
the USA. New Jersey Gov.
Jon Corzine went further,
promising evaluations of
all 6,400 local, state and
federal bridges in his state,
regardless of owner.
In Minneapolis, there
was grief, outrage and
questions over whether
government offcials could
have done more to pre-
vent the disaster. A bridge
in the middle of America
shouldnt fall into a river,
said Sen. Amy Klobuchar,
D-Minn., whose home is
near the span.
The disaster on Min-
nesotas busiest bridge
which carries 141,000 cars a
day raised hopes of more
money for infrastructure in
general. The bridge col-
About 15 divers from
local counties did a bank-to-
bank search Thursday after-
noon and found 11 vehicles,
including an
18-wheeler, said
Lynn Schwartz,
Communication
Specialist for
the Bridge Col-
lapse Command
Center.
Ve h i c l e s
with bodies
inside are be-
ing taken out of the river,
while empty ones are being
marked and left in the wa-
ter, she said.
Dozens of cars are
trapped in the rubble or in
the river after the eight-lane
interstate bridge collapsed
during Minneapolis eve-
ning rush hour. Eight peo-
ple are still missing, said
Hennepin County Sheriff
Richard Stanek.
[We] dont have a hard
understanding of how many
vehicles are underneath the
bridge and that wont be
known until theres an op-
portunity to get some heavy
equipment in to move the
bridge or portions of it,
said Minnesota Gov. Tim
Pawlenty Thursday.
Stanek said conditions
in the Mississippi River
were treacherous, as the
twisted steel and blocks
of pavement were pushed
around by river currents.
He said the search could go
on for fve days or longer.
Four people were con-
frmed dead after the disas-
ter. They were identifed as
Sherry Lou Engebretsen,
60, of Shoreview, Minne-
sota; Julia Blackhawk, 32,
of Savage, Minnesota; Pat-
rick Holmes, 36, of
Mounds View, Min-
nesota; and Arte-
mio Trinidad-Mena,
29, of Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
Offcials said at
least 79 people were
injured.
Before she
learned of Sherry
Engebretsens fate, her
daughter, Jessica, waited
near the bridge for news of
her mother and asked peo-
ple to pray for the missing.
Dozens of distraught
people clutching photo-
graphs and license plate
numbers waited for word
of their missing loved ones.
The Red Cross has set up a
family assistance center in
the ballroom at the nearby
Where Did All The Bridges Go? Into the River
Divers look for survivors in
the Mighty Mississippi
A plan to replace the
bridge that collapsed into
the Mississippi River last
week is on the fastest of fast
tracks: State offcials want
the span open by the end of
next year, and contractors
interested in the job must
contact the state by dawn
Wednesday.
State offcials have
an ambitious schedule to
award contracts to replace
the bridge next month, even
as search crews remained
stymied in their efforts to
recover at least eight miss-
ing victims from the depths
of the Mississippi River.
Five people are confrmed
dead.
A brutal winter could
throw the states rapid re-
construction schedule off.
But other conditions are
favorable -- including a
construction industry with
plenty of available resourc-
es to take on such a daunt-
ing challenge.
It is doable. It is a bit
fast, but this is an emergen-
cy, said Khaled Mahmoud
with the Bridge Engineering
Association in New York.
And if we are ever good at
anything, its responding to
emergencies.
It took only seconds
Wednesday night for the
eight-lane, 1,900-foot steel
truss Interstate 35W bridge,
which opened in 1967, to
collapse. Three days later,
the state had already begun
looking for companies in-
terested in erecting a new
bridge in just 16 months.
Erecting a new bridge
like Minneapolis would
ordinarily take about three
years, even if the design
KATHARINE Q. SLEAZE
Offcials see new urgency to
improve conditions of US bridges
PIP SQUEAK
BERT AND ERNIE DOUGLAS
The carnage can be seen here from a different angle as rescue crews try to save the missing.
YO MOMMA
Eve-Angelica L. Darwin
[We] dont have a hard under-
standing of how many vehicles are
underneath the bridge and that wont
be known until theres an opportu-
nity to get some heavy equipment in
to move the bridge or portions of it,
-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
See DIVERS on page 8
See OFFICIALS on page5
WEATHER: THE NEXT THREE DAYS
See MINNESOTA BRIDGES on page 4
High: 72 Low: 45 High: 65 Low: 48 High: 50 Low: 31
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