BlogHer - Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis - Comments

Feeling lucky and sad

Miss T — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:03:44 -0500

We were driving to meet friends for dinner when the bridge fell, and I'll be forever grateful that we weren't on 35W. The news footage was surreal, and left us all quite shaken. I'm so very sad for everyone who was there.

My story about it is here.

The job ahead for bloggers

Kim Pearson — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:31:39 -0500

First, I am glad that you and yours are safe, Elana. I pray that the toll does not worsen as the recovery operation gets underway.

In the coming days, we will hear talk about our nation's crumbling infrastructure, just as with the recent steam pipe explosion in New York City. There may even be a Congressional hearing or two. This morning on MSNBC, I heard that the cost or repairing the nation's bridges, roads, tunnels and pipes roughly equals what we are spending in Iraq.

The job ahead for bloggers and citizen journalists is to follow up on these issues, both locally and nationally. At our BlogHer seminar on political coverage, Amy Gahran made the excellent point that this kind of follow-up is exactly the kind of thing that the daily press does not do well, for many reasons. But bloggers can, and by directing public attention to these issues on an ongoing basis, there is an opportunity, perhaps, to prevent future tragedies.

Here are some places to start:

1. Poynter Institute has a tip sheet with links to information about bridges in your area, expert sources, and more.
2. The Society of Investigative Reporters and Editors offers tip sheets and databases on the nation's bridges, flooding, and a host of related issues. Some are free and others are for purchase.

I'll pass along other good information sources as I find them.

Kim Pearson

BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

sad

jessicao — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:25:21 -0500

I am glad you are ok. The whole thing is horrific & distressing. I appreciate you taking the time to write such a good account of what it feels like to be there. I've looked at lots of photos online, and yet, I, someone who has bridge phobia, still can't even begin to imagine how awful it must be for everyone.

Wisebread
Amuse Me

I've been watching the

kperfetto — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:22:21 -0500

I've been watching the coverage on CNN since last night. Wow. Just too unreal.

Five Dollar Camera

Hypnotizing Chickens

I didn't realize you lived here, too.

swirlspice — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:55:09 -0500

(I would have made a better effort to meet you in Chicago.)

It's dizzying trying to keep up with what's going on. The pictures and stories are crazy and I'm just relieved that no one I know seems to have been harmed.

Glad to hear you're okay.

Fellow Minnesotan

puppybraille — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:36:05 -0500

I didn't realize you were from MN. This is incredible. It feels, to me, that the entire metro area feels the immpact of this bridge collapse. Thank you for covering this.
Nickie's Nook
and Nickie's Nook the Book

Prayers for your fellow neighbors and travelers on that bridge

coachshonnie — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:59:33 -0500

I'm glad to hear that you weren't involved in this incident and have prayed for the survival of those who were. Thank you for helping to make it a personal event rather than merely witnessing it as something that happened "over there" to "those people."

Peace,
Shonnie

Shonnie Lavender | Coach, Author, Speaker
MyBlogCoach.com | Lavender Log | I Do! I Do!

oh wow

Denise — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:56:06 -0500

I didn't know you lived there! We quickly checked on someone we call "Food Julia" (due to her previous career) and she was ok. She tried to go down there to report on it, she's in "news" there, but they sent her away from the area. She's got some photos on Gather I believe.

I just kept watching the video and saying OMG, OMG, OMG - how does something like that happen?

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

Elana Centor — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:38:25 -0500

The helicopters are hovering overhead. Every few minutes an ambulance rushes by. I live less than a mile from the bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi this evening.

After I finish this post I will walk to the river and talk to people.However, we are also under a severe thunderstorm warning. This morning they were predicting hail and the sky looks ominous.

That was my bridge. When I'm driving from the south, The exit to my house is the first one right after you cross the bridge on the east side of the river. The exit has been closed all summer while they were working on the bridge. There is a joke in Minnesota that we have two seasons here, Winter and road repair.

The last time I crossed the bridge was on Monday as I returned from Blogher. Since my exit was closed, I had to go up the road a mile and then backtrack. It seemed like a big pain. Of course without a bridge that extra excursion now seems like a luxury.

They're saying four people have died so far.

Because of my proximity to that bridge and because it is the route I and my children drive every day --several times a day-- the phone has been ringing. We are lucky.

Nancy White skyped me. I didn't see the message for 30 minutes because I was glued to the television where CNN was talking to one Mark Lacroix, a CNN viewer, who lives in an apartment right by the bridge.

If any of you happened to hear his interview with Wolf Blitzer you would have thought you were listening to a seasoned reporter rather than a viewer who happened to be the first to snap some incredible photographs.

By now the professional journalists are probably on hand. Mark Lacroix did a great job. He was calm, provided details and was able to answer all the questions Wolf tossed him.

For those of you who are not familiar with Minneapolis, you will help us call it 35W ( double u)...that's not 35 west. 35 goes north and south. There is a point south of the city where 35 splits into two branches 35E and 35 W but they both go north and south.

It's a Minnesota thing.

Just saw the first flash of lightening. I guess I won't be going to the river quite yet. More later.

9:19 P.M.
Despite the lightening I ventured toward the river.
I was not alone. On the Fourth of July, during our summer festival ,The Aquatennial ,and on New Year's Eve, people pour down to the river to see the fireworks.

While people streamed to the closest bridge to the collapse, it was quiet. Walking towards the bridge I overheard a woman gasping that she was on 35W just two blocks away when it collapsed.
Thought I would take my camcorder but it was in my daughter's closet. No charge. I took my sony recorder. It malfunctioned. No vlogging or podcasting tonight.

I overheard a woman talking into her cell phone saying she was on 35 W just two blocks away when the bridge collapsed. I chatted with Letty, a woman who always takes 35W home but for some reason took another route today.

As I walked the 1/2 mile to the Stone Arch bridge -- the closest one to the collapse,-- I alked with a neighbor I had never met.Like me, she just wanted to walk by the river. We didn't really think we could see much, and we couldn't. I did see the part of the collapsed bridge but mostly I was thinking of all of us standing on a bridge looking into a space where a bridge no longer exists.

You could overhear people hypothesizing what went wrong. Was it the extreme heat? The road repair? People wondered what that means for all the other bridges that cross the Mississippi. There are a lot of bridges that cross the Mississippi in Minneapolis. Would they close them?

The Twins played as scheduled at the Metrodome. The cars drove over the Hennepin and Central Ave bridges. The mayor has asked us not to use our cell phones so those that really need them can place calls.

It is now 9:33 p.m. It's dark. I was scheduled to have a meeting at 3:30 tomorrow atfternoon at 6th and University...that's just a couple of blocks from the collapse.

The meeting has been rescheduled to a southern suburb. I just have to figure out how to cross the river and get there.