35W Bridge Collapse

By now the entire world knows about the 35W bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis. It’s a somber day here in the North Star state and the catastrophic event affects the entire Twin Cities area in one way or another.

As of now, the death toll stands at four, but is expected to increase as 20-30 people are believed to be missing. This is not like a plane going down where you have a manifest of people. Unfortunately, no one really knows who exactly was on the bridge at the time of the collapse.

Disasters always seem to bring out the best in people and this is no different. Stories of heroes are already being talked about, and I’m sure we are to hear many more. Not all will have a happy ending, but the way in which the entire Twin Cities area responded to this is remarkable.

Despite what some say, the Minnesota Twins made the right decision to go ahead and playball last night. The last thing the responders and emergency crews needed was another 25,000 people flooding the streets. Today’s game with the Royals has been postponed as well as the ground breaking for the new stadium.

It will take a long time for this to get cleaned up, but it does appear that our Government will be stepping up to help in the effort and get a new bridge in place as soon as possible. For those not familiar with the area, this is not just a regular side street bridge that fell; it’s also an Interstate freeway. My drive to work does not include 35W, but I was still affected, sitting in traffic on 494 when I’m normally moving along just fine. There’s no question that this is a crippling event for this area, but things could be worse and we will all get through this.

Throughout the next week or so, many of us will realize that someone we know or knew was affected by this in a tragic way. Already this morning I’ve gotten an email from former co-workers that the nephew of an Attorney we all supported is one of the ones claimed deceased. On a less tragic scale, one of my good buddies called me this morning and told me that he was sitting in traffic on that very same bridge at 5:15 (the collapse happened at 6:05). That was the third time he had traversed that bridge yesterday.

For now, all we can do is hope and pray that the missing 20-30 people don’t increase the death toll. Sports must take a backseat for the time being so check back later for my takes on the Vikings Training Camp, the loss of KG, and some gaming quickies.

Thanks, and God Bless Minneapolis
Keith