Bye Bye Bridgey

[mditto]

Families calling family members. Friends texting friends. It was like 911 all over again. "Were you on the bridge today? Are you ok?" My heart stopped when I realized my sister lives in Minneapolis. She's ok, my whole family is ok. Dad called out of town relatives to let them know we're all safe. I was driving while it happened, luckily

Comments

[syberw]

I was driving on 35W north from the Mall of America probably minutes after it happened. I didn't see any unusual traffic up until I exited at 35th/36th St. Interestingly, I was meeting a friend at my house who drove on the bridge southbound maybe 10 minutes before it happened. He had wondered why all these emergency vehicles were going in the opposite direction.

I was trying to think if I'd ever have had a reason to go up 35W, and honestly, I would have avoided it in almost any scenario anyway and taken 280. 35W is such a mess, even without the bridge collapse the whole highway is mired by repairs it would make little sense going that route. (Ironically, my commute to the MOA is actually quicker now since I take 35W south, south of downtown, since there are fewer cars on the road because of the accident.)