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The new I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis opened Thursday morning, September 18. It’s an impressive structure, and its construction – taking just 13 months since the previous bridge collapsed on August 1, 2007 – was remarkable. Crews worked virtually around the clock to build a replacement to the bridge whose collapse took 13 lives, caused numerous injuries and forever changed the lives of many, many more people who will never receive just compensation.
The new bridge is larger than the previous bridge – it has more lanes and a considerably larger total deck space because light rail might be added in the future. At each end of the bridge stand wavy sculptures representing the river below. These were added partly to reinforce that it’s a vital river crossing.
The reality is that there is a lot of traffic on and around this bridge, and there are exits tight to both ends. Thus, with all the lane-changing and need to focus on traffic, a motorist can cross the bridge countless times without glimpsing the river below. A common view among Twin Cities drivers is “I don’t even realize I’m on a bridge. I’m so busy watching traffic, it just feels like another stretch of freeway.”
Local drivers will quickly adjust to once again being able to cross the river on I-35W, but local drivers as well as visitors will never forget the tragic collapse that required construction of the new span. A monument to the 13 victims of the bridge collapse is being built in a riverside park on the south bank.
Why the “W” in I-35W? Because I-35 splits just south of the Twin Cities into east and west routes. They reunite on the north side of the metro to become I-35 once again.
The bridge opened at 5 a.m. Thursday when state patrol vehicles led traffic across the span for the first time. There was no ceremony, no fanfare, no ribbon cutting. Politicians had spoken at a press conference held on the bridge earlier in the week, but none were visible as traffic began to cross the new white deck.
The photos in the gallery accompanying this article were shot from the seat of a Victory Vision Street at noon on Thursday. Larger versions of selected shots are also viewable via these links:
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
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Photo 7
There’s a comprehensive article about the bridge collapse and rebuilding HERE.
And you can more and see live-cam shots of the bridge HERE.
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