Anniversary of Minnesota Bridge Collapse

August 1 marked the one year anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota that killed 13 people and injured more than 100 others.

Re-construction of the I-35W Bridge will halt for six hours on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the bridge collapse, the state Department of Transportation said.

Work on the replacement bridge over the Mississippi River will be paused from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The bridge collapse occurred shortly after 6 p.m. on August 1, 2007.

Bridge construction is expected to be finished between mid-September and early October. The main span of the bridge was finished Thursday and construction vehicles are now able to drive from one side of the river to the other.

We all take for granted that the bridges, highways and roads that we travel with our families every day are safe. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

In the case of the Minnesota bridge collapse, the I-35W Bridge had apparently been inspected and found to be deficient back in 1985 and the Minnesota Department of Transportation confirmed it was rated as structurally deficient again in 2007, just days before the Minneapolis Bridge collapsed, according to CNN.

A new report, titled Bridging the Gap, by the American Association of the State Highway Transportation, says the nation’s bridges are in bad shape.

The organization estimates it will cost $140 billion to repair and modernize the nation’s 600,000 bridges across the United States. If the repairs are postponed further, the costs will continue to rise.

One in four bridges are in need of repair and the average age of America’s bridges is about 43 years – seven years short of the maximum age for which most are designed.

One in five bridges in the U.S. is older than 50 years.

Nearly one in four bridges, are safe to travel, but are either in need of repairs, structurally deficient or too narrow for current traffic volumes, according to the report.

The agency identifies five many problems facing the nation’s bridges which are: age, congestion, spiking construction costs, lack of funds for maintenance and repair and the staggering costs of new bridges.

According to the report the country’s bridges are safe, but research, innovation, proper maintenance, public awareness and new financing options are needed to keep them in good condition.

Survivors of the bridge collapse now have a website to help assist them with information and to make new claims. The site is www.BridgeCollapseClaims.com.

The Website includes the following information to help assist survivors: deadlines for filing claims, an overview of claims process, instructions for submitting new claims, forms and instructions and a calendar of schedule hearing dates. #