I-35W Mississippi River bridge | |
---|---|
![]() Bridge 9340 in May 2006, one year prior to collapse | |
Coordinates | 44°58′44″N 93°14′42″W / 44.97889°N 93.24500°W |
Carried | 8 lanes of ![]() |
Crossed | Mississippi River |
Locale | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
Official name | Bridge 9340 |
Maintained by | Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) |
ID number | 9340 |
Characteristics | |
Design | Continuous truss bridge |
Total length | 1,907 ft (581.3 m) |
Width | 113.3 ft (34.5 m) |
Height | 115 ft (35.1 m) |
Longest span | 456 ft (139 m)[1] |
Clearance below | 64 ft (19.5 m) |
History | |
Construction start | 1964[2] |
Opened | November 1967 |
Collapsed | August 1, 2007 |
Statistics | |
Daily traffic | 140,000[3] |
Location | |
![]() |
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The bridge opened in 1967, and was Minnesota's third busiest,[4][5] carrying 140,000 vehicles daily.[3] After only 39 years in service, it experienced a catastrophic failure during the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited a design flaw as the likely cause of the collapse, noting that an excessively thin gusset plate ripped along a line of rivets. Additional weight on the bridge at the time of failure was also cited by the NTSB as a contributing factor.[6]
Help came immediately from mutual aid in the seven-county Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and emergency response personnel, charities, and volunteers.[7][8][9] Within a few days of the collapse, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) planned its replacement with the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge. The construction of the replacement bridge was completed quickly, and the new bridge officially opened on September 18, 2008.[10][11]
Stassen-Berger-Brewer
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).