I-35W bridge in Minneapolis reopens
The reconstructed I-35W bridge in Minneapolis reopened Thursday, 13 months after it collapsed in August 2007. Meanwhile, the city has announced plans to construct a memorial in Gold Medal Park to the 13 people who died in the bridge collapse.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) Commissioner Tom Sorel and other officials welcomed the opening of the St. Anthony Falls Bridge, which has been completed more than three months ahead of schedule. “Hundreds of workers have worked around the clock [on the new bridge] since Nov. 1,” Sorel said in a statement. “Their hard work and attention to detail, as well as the project’s extensive safety and quality inspection programs, provide us confidence that this bridge will carry traffic safely for at least 100 years. Minnesota should be very proud of its workforce today, as well as the families of workers who have supported their efforts.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the collapse, and is expected to release a full report in November, according to Mn/DOT. Details of the new bridge opening are available at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/.
On Tuesday, Pawlenty and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak announced the details of the “Remembrance Garden” that will be built in Gold Medal Park just west of the bridge, where many residents gathered in the days after the collapse. The Remembrance Garden will feature 13 standing metal beams bearing the names of the victims, encircling a plaza, at the center of which will be a 13-foot-wide black granite fountain.
More information on the memorial is available at
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20080915BridgeMemorial.asp.
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