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Keyword: 35w

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  • Monday marks 15 years since 35W Bridge collapse (MN)

    08/01/2022 8:56:58 AM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 11 replies
    KSTP.com ^ | 8/1/22 | Rebecca Omastiak KSTP
    Aug. 1, 2007 is a date Minnesotans won’t forget. Thirteen people were killed and another 145 were injured when the Interstate 35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis suddenly collapsed during rush hour. The incident garnered national attention and sparked conversation about road and bridge safety across the United States. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the collapse on gusset plates, which were half as thick as they should have been due to a flaw in the original design. The new bridge opened to the public on Sept. 18, 2008, and a memorial for the victims was also built...
  • 11 Years Later, Survivor Remembers 35W Bridge Collapse (MN)

    08/01/2018 3:01:51 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 10 replies
    KSTP.com ^ | 8/1/18 | Megan Newquist
    Wednesday marks 11 years since the Interstate 35W Bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River. Thirteen people died and 145 were injured when the packed bridge went down during rush hour. Julie Graves was on a school bus chaperoning a field trip when the bus collapsed. The bus had almost made it across the bridge into downtown when it went down. "With the really talented staff I was with that day, they were able to evacuate all the kids off the bus and out the emergency exit and strangers were already coming to lift the kids down to safety off the...
  • School Bus Survivors Recall the I-35W Bridge Collapse

    08/01/2017 4:14:19 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 11 replies
    KSTP.com ^ | 8/1/17 | Jessica Miles
    Moments after the Interstate 35W bridge fell into the Mississippi River, 10-year-old Kaleigh Swift called her mom. Stuck on the school bus and unable to reach her, she left a voicemail. "The bridge broke as we were crossing it," Swift screamed into the phone. The mother and daughter shared the message with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reporter Jessica Miles 10 years ago. "Are you there momma? Momma, are you there?" Swift cried out in fear. Many parents of children on the bus were at the Waite House in south Minneapolis, waiting to pick them up from a field trip. "I remember...
  • Survivors Recall 35W Bridge Collapse 7 Years Later

    08/01/2014 6:55:11 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 4 replies
    KSTP.com ^ | 8/1/14 | Joe Mazan
    The heartbreaking images are forever engrained in many of our minds. Friday marks the seventh anniversary of when the 35W Bridge came crashing down during the evening rush hour in 2007. A total of 13 people were killed and 145 were hurt. Ana Vences was one of 52 children on a school bus coming home from a field trip when the bridge collapsed. " I saw dust out of nowhere, then I feel like we flew and we all hit the ceiling of the bus and then we collapsed and landed somewhere." said Ana Vences. Every one of the children...
  • Engineering firm to pay $52.4 million in 35W bridge settlement (MN)

    08/23/2010 1:42:36 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 8 replies
    StarTribune.com ^ | 8/23/10 | Rochelle Olson
    An engineering firm that consulted on the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed three years ago has agreed to pay $52.4 million to victims. San Francisco-based URS Corp. had been sued by more than 100 people. They accused the company of missing warning signs on the bridge before its rush-hour collapse into the Mississippi River on Aug. 1, 2007. Thirteen people died and 145 were injured. URS had argued that its engineers didn't know about a design flaw in the bridge that made it vulnerable when it collapsed. "Aug. 1, 2007, marked the greatest manmade catastrophe our state has...
  • 35W bridge lawsuit: Engineering company predicted bridge collapse

    06/28/2010 4:31:13 PM PDT · by Extremely Extreme Extremist · 3 replies
    KARE11.COM ^ | 28 JUNE 2010 | KARE11.COM
    MINNEAPOLIS -- Explosive documents about the Interstate 35W bridge suggest the engineering company the state hired to make sure the bridge was safe actually predicted it would collapse months before it fell apart. The documents are part of a lawsuit victims are bringing against California based URS Corporation. They accuse the firm of predicting a catastrophic event, but allegedly not telling anyone about it. The thought has been tough to swallow for the victims of that day in August 2007, when 13 people lost their lives and well over 100 were injured. "I remember until probably about 5:15 that day,"...
  • Concrete Is Remixed With Environment in Mind

    03/31/2009 9:46:20 PM PDT · by neverdem · 11 replies · 816+ views
    NY Times ^ | March 31, 2009 | HENRY FOUNTAIN
    Soaring above the Mississippi River just east of downtown Minneapolis is one remarkable concrete job. There on Interstate 35W, the St. Anthony Falls Bridge carries 10 lanes of traffic on box girders borne by massive arching piers, which are supported, in turn, by footings and deep pilings. The bridge, built to replace one that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people, is constructed almost entirely of concrete embedded with steel reinforcing bars, or rebar. But it is hardly a monolithic structure: the components are made from different concrete mixes, the recipes tweaked, as a chef would, for specific strength and durability...
  • Mad rush to place 35W blame was shameful (MN Bridge Collapse)

    11/22/2008 8:06:44 PM PST · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 13 replies · 656+ views
    StarTribune ^ | 11/22/08 | Katherine Kersten
    It's official. The Interstate 35W bridge fell -- not because of what Tim Pawlenty or Carol Molnau did or didn't do -- but because engineers failed to calculate correctly the thickness of gusset plates more than 40 years ago. The National Transportation Safety Board's findings, released on Nov. 14, must feel like some vindication to Pawlenty, Molnau and MnDOT's bridge inspection and maintenance team. After the collapse, Pawlenty counseled patience. He urged Minnesotans to wait for a thorough investigation before leaping to conclusions about why the bridge fell. Instead, critics launched a relentless -- if often subtly expressed -- search...
  • I-35W made whole as new bridge opens at 5 a.m.

    09/18/2008 7:09:07 AM PDT · by MplsSteve · 31 replies · 217+ views
    Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) ^ | 9/18/08 | Jim Foti - Staff Reporter
    Honking their horns and stirring up faint clouds of post-construction dust, hundreds of drivers helped open the new Interstate 35W bridge this morning just a few minutes after 5 a.m. The two processions -- one from the south end of the bridge, one from the north -- were led by representatives of agencies that were the first responders when the old bridge collapsed last year. They were followed by Minnesota Department of Transportation maintenance trucks with sturdy, wide bumpers that kept drivers in line. Vehicles coming from the south were the first to make it across the 10-lane bridge, which...
  • New 35W bridge to open Thursday (MN)

    09/15/2008 9:22:44 AM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 10 replies · 226+ views
    KSTP.com ^ | 9/15/08 | Elena Kibasova
    Governor Pawlenty and other officials announced Monday when the new Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis will open. The bridge will open to traffic on Thursday at 5 a.m., just over a year after the old one tragically collapsed into the Mississippi River and cut off a key Minneapolis artery. Pawlenty was joined on Monday at a news conference on the new bridge by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and members of Minnesota's congressional delegation. Officials also announced plans for a memorial to honor the victims of the August 1st, 2007, collapse of the old I-35W bridge that killed 13 people and...
  • Sonia Pitt: Fired. Then hired? (Homeland Security?)

    08/09/2008 8:29:58 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 10 replies · 79+ views
    StarTribune ^ | 8/9/08 | TONY KENNEDY
    The curious case of Sonia Pitt has officials in Washington asking whether the Department of Homeland Security's hiring practices are inept.......... One week after ousting disgraced Minnesota transportation official Sonia Pitt from the job she found at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the massive federal agency has taken a new step to beef up its vetting of potential hires. From now on, more job candidates will have their backgrounds searched on Google. The policy change, put forth by Kip Hawley, the top administrator of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration, is one among several signs that TSA's admitted blunder in...
  • Fired by MnDOT, now at Homeland Security (35W Bridge Collapse)

    07/30/2008 10:35:37 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 14 replies · 156+ views
    StarTribune ^ | 7/31/08 | PAUL MCENROE and TONY KENNEDY
    Sonia Pitt, the MnDOT emergency response executive fired for taking an unauthorized, state-paid trip to Washington during the Interstate 35W bridge disaster, is now working for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Pitt, 44, of Red Wing, confirmed Wednesday that she is working for Homeland Security's Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) at its headquarters in Arlington, Va. Her job title is "Transportation Security Specialist.'' Pitt declined to discuss her job responsibilities, her length of employment with the federal agency or her salary. "All inquiries go through my attorney, same as always,'' Pitt said. TSA regional spokesperson Carrie Harmon would provide only...
  • Silence, solemnity to mark 1-year anniversary of bridge collapse (MN 35W)

    07/15/2008 8:36:39 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 5 replies · 151+ views
    StarTribune ^ | 7/15/08 | MARY LYNN SMITH
    At 6:05 p.m. on Aug. 1, silence will fall along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. And those standing along the river's banks will remember that at that moment one year ago, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring hundreds of others. A prayer service on Aug. 1 at the Basilica of St. Mary followed by an outdoor memorial service at Gold Medal Park on the Mississippi River will mark the first anniversary of the bridge collapse. "It was one of the worst days that I will ever be part of that ironically showed...
  • McCain backs off gov't waste as cause of bridge collapse

    05/01/2008 5:35:52 PM PDT · by pissant · 8 replies · 49+ views
    AP news ^ | 5/1/08 | Libby Quaid
    CLEVELAND (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Thursday backed off his assertion that pork-barrel spending led to last year's deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis. With Democrats criticizing him for citing wasteful spending as the cause of the disaster, McCain told reporters in Cleveland, "No, I said it would have received a higher priority, which it deserved." That statement was in contrast to McCain's remarks to reporters aboard his campaign bus as it rolled through Pennsylvania on Wednesday: "The bridge in Minneapolis didn't collapse because there wasn't enough money. The bridge in Minneapolis collapsed because so much money was...
  • McCain blames I-35W bridge collapse on wasted money

    04/30/2008 5:38:36 PM PDT · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 24 replies · 57+ views
    StarTribune ^ | 4/30/08 | LIBBY QUAID/AP
    Republican John McCain said Wednesday that the bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people last year would not have happened if Congress had not wasted so much money on pork-barrel spending. Federal investigators cite undersize steel plates as the "critical factor" in the collapse of the bridge. Heavy loads of construction materials on the bridge also contributed to the disaster that injured 145 people on Aug. 1, according to preliminary findings by the National Transportation Safety Board. "The bridge in Minneapolis didn't collapse because there wasn't enough money," McCain told reporters while campaigning in Pennsylvania. "The bridge in Minneapolis...
  • Pre-collapse photos show bends on bridge ( Minnesota )

    03/23/2008 7:36:56 PM PDT · by george76 · 56 replies · 2,641+ views
    Old photos of the Interstate 35W bridge show two steel connecting plates were visibly bent as early as 2003 — four years before the span collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people. Minnesota Department of Transportation officials declined to say when the state first knew about the bending in the pieces of steel, called gusset plates. Two photos, part of a report issued earlier this month by the National Transportation Safety Board, reveal slight bends in gusset plates that hold beams together at two separate connecting points. The plates are in areas believed to be among the first points...
  • Oberstar chastises NTSB for 35W Bridge findings

    01/24/2008 4:57:30 AM PST · by ButThreeLeftsDo · 7 replies · 47+ views
    KSTP.com ^ | 1/23/08 | Nicole Muehlhausen
    Congressman Jim Oberstar chastised the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board Wednesday for publicly declaring the cause of the 35W Bridge collapse before the investigation was complete. Oberstar sent a letter to the NTSB Chairman Wednesday to raise what he describes as "serious concerns." Oberstar worries that because of what’s already been said, the final report on the cause of the bridge collapse could be tainted. "We do not today, know what caused the I-35 collapse," said Chairman Mark Rosenker last Tuesday. However, a few minutes later, he said the gusset plates on the 35W Bridge were the wrong...
  • Dozens of bridge victims prepare to sue (Minnesota Brige Collapse)

    01/22/2008 11:11:24 AM PST · by Mr. Brightside · 25 replies · 121+ views
    AP ^ | 1/22/08
    Dozens of bridge victims prepare to sue By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 22, 10:48 AM ET ST. PAUL, Minn. - Dozens of victims of last summer's bridge collapse in Minneapolis — from surviving spouses to the parents of children riding on a yellow school bus — have filed preliminary paperwork to sue the state. The documents, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, provide a glimpse into a brewing legal battle over the Aug. 1 disaster, in which the Interstate 35W bridge plummeted 60 feet into the Mississippi River, killing 13 and injuring 145....
  • Bridge Collapse Caused By Design Flaw, Not Maintenance

    01/15/2008 10:21:06 AM PST · by jdm · 116 replies · 3,130+ views
    Captain's Quarters ^ | Jan. 15, 2008 | Ed Morrissey
    The collapse of the St. Anthony Bridge in Minneapolis started with a design flaw in the gusset plates, confirming suspicions that arose in the first week of the investigation. A source familiar with the conclusion told CNN earlier this morning that the NTSB will announce that finding later today, ending speculation that poor maintenance caused the deaths of 13 people last August: Federal investigators have identified a design flaw as the cause of last year's Interstate 35W Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, a congressional official said Tuesday. The official, who was briefed by the National Transportation Safety Board,...
  • Minneapolis Bridge ‘Victims’ On Board for the Sickest Lottery Imaginable

    11/12/2007 7:31:05 AM PST · by Invisigoth · 37 replies · 649+ views
    North Star Writers Group ^ | November 12, 2007 | David Karki
    It's been three months since the I-35W bridge collapse, and shovels are about to be put into the ground to begin construction of the replacement. And as sure as the Minnesota winter is cold, victims and their lawyers are lining up with their hands out, demanding compensation. Meanwhile, politicians are tripping over each other to see who can shovel the most of someone else's money at these people, the better to claim the mantle of “compassion” and then browbeat anyone who objects with angry cries of how one could be so “cruel” to these poor souls. It's enough to make...