I-35W Bridge Collapse
Materials Prepared For The Media

The busy Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsed at the peak of rush hour on Wednesday, August 1, 2007. As a result of the large number of phone calls and E-mail that I received, I have prepared a few items for the media to use.

Note—these materials are covered by copyright and may not be used without written permission.

Go to John's Photos.
Go to the Close-Up Photos.
Go to the Aerial Photos.
Go back to the I-35W Bridge page.

This view is looking west, which is up river. The 10th Avenue concrete arch bridge in the front, then the I-35W steel truss bridge, and then the Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock & Dam (part of the 9-foot navigation channel). A 3rd bridge is visible in the East photo. That is the Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge #9, which has since been converted into a bicycle path across the Mississippi River.

The Red Cross building is that parking lot where slider bar covers the picture. The building next to the slider bar is the former Minnegasco gas plant, now Centerpoint Energy. Just off the left side is the former US Army Math research building, now a U of M building. The road under the bridge is the west river parkway.

On the right side, the building just above the bridge is a U of M physics lab, which formerly housed the Tandem Accelerator experiment and nuclear research labs. To the right of the photos starts the student housing area for the U of M campus.

The large flat area to the right of the dam is the site of another twin cities disaster. This was a Northern States Power Company power plant for decades. The building was undercut by water, but nobody noticed. The building unexpectedly collapsed in the late 1980's. The building was removed, and this flat piece of dirt is all that is left. Several groups are still trying to get hydropower back into the lower dam area. The long concrete box next to the rushing water is the boat lock. It raises boats and barges 24 feet. The lock just upstream raises boats another 48 feet.