"You always felt proud to be here when you crossed that bridge"

In a horrific scene of Biblical proportions, "dozens of vehicles were scattered and stacked on top of each other amid the rubble" when a major-artery bridge spanning the Mississippi between Minneapolis and St. Paul collapsed yesterday, stranding some commuters "on parts of the bridge that weren't completely in the water"  (Brian Peterson/AP photo)

"Would you have run to the bus? I'll answer for you: yes," writes James Lileks, blogging at the Star Tribune's buzz.mn last evening about that Minneapolis man who survived the fall of the Twin Cities freeway bridge and "then ran to help the kids on the bus":

Most of us would. It’s a remarkable instinct that wells up and kicks in, and it’s something you never expected to experience. As someone said about humans: We’re at our best when things are worst.

"I’ve driven across this bridge every few days for thirty years," notes Lileks in a touching tribute to the bridge that was:

There are bridges, and there are bridges; this one had the most magnificent view of downtown available, and it’s a miracle I never rear-ended anyone while gawking at the skyline, the old Stone Bridge, the Mississippi. You always felt proud to be here when you crossed that bridge, pleased to live in such a beautiful place. Didn’t matter if it was summer twilight or hard cold winter noon -- Minneapolis always seemed to be standing at attention, posing for a formal portrait. We’ll have that view again -- but it’ll take a generation before it’s no longer tinged with regret and remembrance.

Lileks commenter Foamer reports on the reporters last night:

Coverage seems to be about the same (I was watching Fox until recently) as any major disaster type event -- they basically tell you everything they know in 5 minutes and then repeat that every 10 minutes with inane guessing to fill in the space.

One of the Fox News reporters this morning is saying the impact of the collapse on the life of the Twin Cities is comparable -- in terms of psychological and traffic-circulation trauma -- to the fall of the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan. So far, authorities say there is no evidence of terrorism.

Road crews had been repaving travel lanes and replacing rails when the bottom fell out. As Minneapolitan Captain Ed writes, "We joke out here that we have two seasons, winter and Road Construction. The ravages of ice, snow, gravel and salt have to be remedied on a regular basis. That kind of work would almost certainly not have created the kind of failure we saw today." Instead, something more insidious may have been at play: In 2005 "the bridge had been rated as 'structurally deficient,' which would normally have flagged it for higher-priority maintenance or possibly replacement," notes the Captain, who has a link to a security video that caught the collapse. (Erik S. Steinmetz/AP photo)

"What do you tell your kids?" worries Lileks:

Mine was shaken by the news, because in the mind of a seven-year old, bridges don’t collapse. I imagine she’ll wonder about the other bridges we travel. She’s not alone.

And maybe there's a silver lining in that. Or, more likely, Wretchard's words in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami will apply:

There will be momentary interest, a search for scapegoats and then a gradual return to forgetfulness.

"It's only human to forget -- repress? -- horrific experiences, to move on," we wrote back then:

Those who were there and lived to tell the tale are scarred for life and will never forget. They know it in their bones and will try to warn the world -- of what? Pay attention to your surroundings? Don't take anything for granted? Repent before it's too late? -- with their stories. Locally it will enter the communal lore. But beyond the region, it won't stick. The rest of us out here in the larger world -- who only hear of it, see media images and try in our mind's eye to imagine the horror but then can turn away to the comfort of our everyday lives -- we are the ones in danger of forgetting.

When talking and blogging heads read into this awful event -- and they will read into it -- they will find a perfect metaphor for the vulnerability of the foundations of freedom in this land of the free, where hairline cracks in the nation's belief in itself -- wrought by the relentless ravages of anti-American multiculturalism and political correctness -- are even as we blog being paved over by those who have forgotten that freedom is not free. Fortunately, as Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman is saying in a late-morning news conference, Minnesotans -- both professionals whose job it is to deal with emergencies and everyday citizens who happened to be on the scene -- had learned the lessons of 9/11 and were impressively prepared to roll up their sleeves and deal with yesterday's chilling challenge. More good news for freedom from Miss Kelly, who brings word of what Egyptian-born Italian writer and journalist Magdi Allam calls "the residual hope for Western civilization, which, more than other civilizations, embodies the sacredness of life and personal freedom."

Update: We were just thinking about the old John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge -- opened in 1954 -- that spans the Merrimac River between Newburyport and Amesbury. We'll be crossing it this afternoon on our way down Goomp's. Googling, we found to our surprise that it is scheduled for a $132 million replacement in the winter of 2010/11:

The existing 6-lane bridge will be replaced with a new 8-lane structure matching the existing 8-lane roadway cross section to the south. The bridge will remain open to traffic throughout construction.

"Hope they do a better job than they did on the tunnel," quips Goomp.

Comments

[goomp]

A tragic event. For those not personally involved it is one one the many tragic events that take place continually. A personal loss is not involved, and we cannot really have a sense of the distress of those personally affected. If lax supervision was at fault, those responsible should be held to account.

[Ed Flinn]

CNN has footage of the main section over the river collapsing at: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/08/02/vosli.mn.i35w.bridge.collapse.side.view.cnn?iref=mpvideosview

[GreenmanTim]

"Would you have run to the bus?" Yes, if past experience is anything to go by. One very bad day in Africa I rushed into the smoldering remains of a shack to save a woman, out of her mind with grief, who had set it on fire and then fallen back into the ashes on a white hot metal bed frame. She had 3rd degree burns; I was merely singed. At the time I didn't think; I reacted. It was just what needed to be done.

[Elisson]

When I heard of the Minneapolis-St. Paul disaster, I flashed back to the Mianus River Bridge collapse in Cos Cob, Connecticut, back in June, 1983. That collapse, on a heavily traveled section of I-95, took place at 1:30 am, resulting in a much smaller death toll than if it had occurred during evening rush hour as in Minneapolis. (Of course, if you're one of the unfortunates who gets killed, the only death toll figure that matters is yours, alas!)

We moved to Connecticut three years later, and I always felt a chill when driving over that bridge. There are few things more ghastly than bridge collapses when left to roam unfettered in the imagination.

[Gayle Miller]

The subject of the bridge's collapse came up this morning as we were driving into D.C. from Fredericksburg, VA over the 14th Street bridge - which spans the Potomac which I love to see from ANY and ALL vantage points. This is, we think we remember, the bridge into which a plane crashed several years ago so we feel safe because it has been inspected and repaired within the recent past. Thoughts then turned to the worst bridge beloved Linda has ever been on (contrarian that I am, I LIKE this bridge) and that's the San Mateo bridge in Northern California which span is incredibly close to the water for incredible amounts of time and which is also the LONGEST bridge on which I've ever driven!

One of my blogging friends is a taxi driver in Mpls-St. Paul and we were all worried about him (his name is Paul) until we heard from him the morning after. He has posted some photographs which he took the next day.

[Gayle Miller]

The original San Mateo bridge was built in 1929, and upon completion was the longest bridge in the world. It was subsequently replaced with a modern span in 1967. The total length of the bridge is 7 miles. It is composed of multiple steel girder spans that make up the high rise, measuring 1.9 of the total 7 miles. The other segment is made up of the Trestle portion, accounting for the remaining 5.1 miles. It is currently under extensive seismic retrofitting to withstand a powerful earthquake. The bridge carries about 93,000 cars and other vehicles each day and it spans from Foster City (a city built entirely on LANDFILL) to Hayward, California.

h/t Wikipedia

[hnav]

very sad indeed...