Funny, isn't it, that there is never any money to fix or do essential repairs to a building or structure at the time, yet when said building/structure collapses, there is all of a sudden plenty of money there to replace it fully...
Yeah, well if tax payers and voters wanted to complain about infrastructure being the most important issue on their mind, they would. But they complain about Critical Race Theory, Gender bathroom policy, abortion laws, and covid-policy. Citizens get the government they deserve.
Never any money for real maintenance or replacement but plenty for election runs, benefits for the upper class or allies overseas. No government really cares about making their own country as good as it can be, they only care about getting rich/er & passing the buck.
I live in Minnesota and after this collapse, every bridge in the the state was inspected with a much harder line. Every bridge over the interstates, bridges over rivers even tiny little bridges over small creeks or waterways. They replaced at least three tiny bridges near where I live in the following years. And I mean tiny, unless you knew what to look for, you would likely never even notice it was a bridge which I suspect meant they were seldom inspected. The bridge on the road to my house was replaced when it was discovered that it was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed earlier.
My family and I used to drive across that bridge to visit my grandparents. At the time it blew my tiny little mind that one of those victims could have been me and my family. It was an unwanted revelation to 11yo me who thought I was safe no matter where I was.
Do you remember the stink when the bridge to St. Cloud was then closed because it was the same age and had been made/designed by the same firm? I get that the drive to cross the river was almost an hour out of the way, but a collapse there would have been just as disastrous. And as for the 35W bridge, my husband had driven over it maybe an hour before it fell. The thought that I could have been a widow with an 8yo and 14yo is still chilling.
i was a kid when this happened, and we were on the bridge 25 minutes before the collapse. When i got home the radio was on (always was) and Moon and Stacy were giving the tragic news. It was so fucking bizarre man
As a kid growing up in Minnesota, I thought the civilian response to the accident was normal. When I was in a car accident, it was maybe 3 seconds between impact and a group of six worried looking people pulling my car door open. Thank goodness for all the efforts that went into saving lives, because 13 people is a lot of people (too many) but it sure as heck could have been more.
It’s because midwesterners are nice! Garrison Keillor said that in the Midwest, nobody’s a stranger, just a friend you haven’t given a jumpstart to yet.
Yeah, even in the twin cities people are generally really caring individuals. Which is unusual for a city space! But as a Minnesotan that made me pretty proud to hear haha
I really appreciate documentary channels like this. Hearing someone just give out facts about what happened, why, and the aftermath is much more preferable to me than any dramatization. It's respectful, and I'm finding out about so many incidents that I've never heard of. Thank you for your work.
It never fails to boggle my mind that we're allowing our bridges to get so bad when the bulk of them are in desperate need of replacement. If something isn't done I fear we'll see more collapses in the coming years. Anyway, another amazing video as always! Thanks Fascinating Horror!
Well, "deficient" is a pretty minor categorization, and doesn't necessarily mean "dangerous". In a lot of cases, spending time and money fixing something that is merely deficient is often wasteful.
@Irving Shekelstein yes, it's the fault of reparations.... something that literally does not exist in the US, or the fault of black people on welfare....something which helps poor white people more than poor people of any other race, and affirmative action? explain to us how affirmative action causes the government to not maintain public utilities. The fed gave $864 million in welfare to corporations last year and that doesn't include the millions each individual state hands out. Public utilities are funded through taxes....who isn't paying taxes? the wealthy who have the means to evade them all while working class people like you and me have to pay large parts of our paycheck to give those same people more subsidies. why are you mad at fellow workers? most people on programs like medicare and food Stamps work for a living and are just paid minimum wage. you're being taken advantage of by rich people and are forced to pay more in taxes to maintain public services we all use, because they won't, and you STILL kiss their ass and blame working class black people.
"Structurally deficient... within tolerable limits" has to be one of the most egregious examples of negligently kicking the can down the road that I've ever heard of. Self-interested politicians always love announcing "big and bold" new infrastructure projects (especially in election years) without bothering to cost out and secure funding to maintain that infrastructure over the decades to come. Details like that always seem to become the next generations problem, or the next after that, and so on. Until some tragedy occurs and lives are lost.
It's immediacy bias. People tend to be more impressed by shiny new projects. A bridge that hasn't collapsed yet is still usable, so the average voter doesn't care. Spend billions to repair an unsafe but still functional bridge and all most voters will remember is the inconvenience of the closure and the tax dollars that got taken out of their pocket. That's why no politician wants to be the one to spend on maintenance - it's vitally important, but not sexy and this won't help them get reelected like a shiny new project will.
The fact that there are over 70,000 US bridges that qualify as "structurally deficient" is frightening to be honest. How many more collapses on the scale of this one will the US see because of this? It boggles my mind.
In addition to Corey's note, there's often the fact that funds for new construction will come from different sources and programs than maintenance. Very often you can get federal grants for a new infrastructure project, but maintenance has to come from local tax dollars. Since maintenance is rarely something the general public thinks about (unless it's road work season, and then it's a nuisance) it's very hard to get people to accept any tax hike to pay for maintenance or replacement. See also, deferred maintenance being SOP for companies that want to keep their earnings looking good, or how many duct-tape quick fixes are deployed in the average household. Maintenance just isn't a priority anywhere.
@@djmoch1001 Keep in mind that I am sure the list is full of back road bridges like farming roads and small communities. For example it is very common here in Washington state to have a bridge to reach a small community of maybe 100 homes in the forest, I have crossed hundreds of small wood bridges some are only 1 car wide, it is just depending on the funds available comapred to the number of people that use it. In the future as populations grow that will change.
As a Minnesotan I can tell you this was one of those "do you remember where you were when _ happened?" Also thanks for doing this disaster, as it should be remembered, still learned new things too
I was about to enter my senior year of high school. But I don't remember where I was when I heard about it. I remember where I was when Michael Jackson died, waiting for the 4 bus downtown near MCTC. Heard it from another person waiting for a bus. I only had a flip phone at the time.
Fellow Minnesota millennial here. Oddly enough I could tell you exactly where I was as 9/11 happened and when MJ died, but I don't remember where I was when I heard I-35W collapsed. I only remember frantically calling to see if my aunt (who drove across that brige a handful of times per day) was okay. She had driven across it roughly 5 minutes before the collapse...
yup normally i would of been going right over that bridge when that happened, for some reason i went 694 instead , got home and went omg wtf, yes will remember that day very very well.
I was in Austria and woke up to the headline "Katastrophe in Minneapolis." Terrifying, but luckily none of my family or friends were regularly in that area. Found out later my dad had crossed that bridge just a few days before the collapse.
This channel continues to be of the highest quality. In addition to a lack of swearing, it also has on-screen citations of the photographs used, and there are no short video segments of things that have nothing to do with the story -- as some other channels do. The topics continue to be compelling and well-researched.
A diaster I'm intimately familiar with: I had several friends and my mother in law who were in transit from Minneapolis to the eastern suburbs. All of them had to pass over that bridge to get home. Everyone was accounted for, except for my mother in law, who called us several hours later once she realized what happened. She had gone over the bridge somewhere between 10-15 minutes before the collapse
To be honest I’m surprised there weren’t more deaths. The collapse looked absolutely horrific. I think the worst part is that everyone was just going about their day. Trying to get home or working before catastrophe appears from nowhere. So sad. Very scary to know there are a lot of bridges that are definitely far from safe.
@@princeofcupspoc9073 They really do. Imagine what would happen if they didn’t exist. Plus, imagine the trauma they have to endure whilst saving so many people. It has to be one of the hardest professions I can imagine.
I still clearly remember watching this happen. What I remember the most is the school bus full of children that was trapped on the edge of the bridge, dangerously close to the water.
Same here. When I first heard of it on the news I was horrified. Bridge collapses are bad, but the Mississippi is such a large river, I thought so many had been killed.
“This structure is insufficient in its integrity and should be replaced, but that’s a problem for another day. If it’s standing today it’ll stand tomorrow, right?” Seems to be the most common mindset with infrastructure around the US, it’s just kicking the can down the road. There was that bridge collapse in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago too.
Officials doing the cheapest bare minimum until a tragedy happens, always the case. Even today there's something somewhere that experts are warning about but someone is putting it off for another day until a catastrophe. Global warming maybe?
I was getting off the bridge when it collapsed. I was on my way home from work when it happened. Thank you for posting this! I knew a couple people that were on it and survived, but were severely injured. Scary stuff.
That's sadly the case for many preventable disasters, especially in the U.S. Politicians and companies seldom seem to care about problems until a tragedy occurs that cannot be ignored. Whether it be airline operations, fire safety codes or even engineering problems like the leeves in New Orleans.
"but it takes 13 deaths for funding to be miraculously found for a brand new bridge" -- yeah, well that I guess. And the fact that the old bridge was gone. Go without wasn't going to be an option.
I live in Minneapolis. I remember that day so well. Senator Amy Klobuchar summed up the feeling in a seemingly obviously true statement that "A bridge shouldn't just fall down in the middle of America." In the Twin CIties, most of us had/have traveled over that bridge. I have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. One of my best friends took it daily at the time and--glued to my TV--I urgently tried to get ahold of him. The cell towers were overwhelmed. (We really do not realize how quickly communications will shut down in even an isolated crisis. Fortunately, he had driven over the bridge minutes before the disaster. In the Art Center at the State Fair that year there was a directly overhead aerial photo of the collapsed bridge. It still--only weeks old as an event--was a center of attention of visitors who asked, "Where were you when the bridge came down?" Yes, I concur with other posters. We need an infrastructure bill, regardless of which party is in power.
Thanks to Sleepy Joe, we got a good start. Let's hope we can continue electing leaders that have a vested, passionate interest in maintaining our architecture and preventing the unnecessary loss of life associated with neglecting it. 🤞
I was 13 when the bridge collapsed and it was one of the most horrifying and surreal things I’ve ever witnessed. My dad took me and my siblings to see the wreckage a few weeks later and the vision of seeing those cars in the water is a vision I’ll never forget.
I was 9 at the time. My mother and I were glued to the TV because my father was a paramedic and had deep water training so he was called in all the way from Woodbury.
Another thorough and respectful video. If you can, I would love to see you cover the 1989 explosion at the Exxon refinery in Baton Rouge. I have a personal connection to that one in that if my dad had gone in that day like he originally wanted to, he would have been at almost the epicenter of the blast.
Man; my dad, brother, and I crossed this bridge coming home from the Children's museum in MSP about an hour before the collapse. I was so intrigued by this collapse, my senior project in 2015 was on Failing American Infrastructure. We had a massive project and presentation required for graduation. Through the time spent researching, one of my mentors gave me a small display jar with some concrete from the bridge collapse. He was an engineer from the twin cities that helped determine the cause of the collapse!
I was hoping you would do this one! Coming from the area and living here at the time, I knew so many people who were affected. One of those who died used to work with my mom. Another remembrance is held at the Minnesota History Center: the emergency door from the bus you see stuck on the bridge. It was signed by all the kids who were rescued.
I don't know how to express how informative, respectful, and well-edited these videos consistently are. You have many imitators and none of them have your grace and your even presentation. Thank you for this content.
Man this one hits close to home. I grew up in Cambridge, MN about an hour north of Minneapolis and lived there my entire life. I remember the day the bridge collapsed. I was sitting at home with my mom and dad watching the TV when it cut off the show to announce that the collapse had just taken place. My mother was frantic because she knew this was right around the time of day that my older sister got off work and she drove over that bridge every day to and from work. She called my sister and she had passed over the bridge literally 10 min prior to its collapse. She didn't believe my mom until she got home and watched the footage on the news for herself. Needless to say, she didn't get much sleep for the next few days thinking about how close to death she had been. My heart goes out to all the people affected by the collapse and every time I pass over the bridge to this day it feels like the world goes silent for that short time you're suspended over the Mississippi.
I love this channel. It’s always interesting, but respectful. If you’re interested in a lesser known tragedy, the Bluffton Baseball Team’s bus crash still haunts people where I grew up.
I have two friends that were on the bridge when it collapsed, they are fine now but they never brought it up. I found out later when they were on a news story about the collapse when the new bridge was opening. Also if I remember correctly there was an increase in the gas tax that they had been trying to get approved for a while to increase infrastructure funding. Since no one likes increased taxes it wasn't getting through, but if course right after the bridge collapsed it went through real quick. You also forget living in a city split by a river how great bridges are until you don't have one.
I never vote for any added tax for infrastructure. Government always takes more and more. They need to learn to work inside their means. There are dozens of taxes we already pay for things exactly like this but they always want more.
@@alecb8509 No kidding. Years ago, my town voted to increase property tax to fund the local failing hospital. The hospital was obviously failing due to mismanagement, but the vote passed anyway. A couple years later, the hospital finally went under and got demolished, then a few years after that they built a new clinic with better management. And naturally the property tax. . . Didn't go down at all. C'est la government.
@@alecb8509 I wonder why a government which allows rich people to evade taxes keeps taxing poor people into the ground??? could it be because no one is pressuring the wealthy to pay their fair share like working class people already do? lol some of y'all are so stuck on paying taxes you're missing the fact that you're getting fucked by wealthy people who don't have to pay for any of the public services they use to make money off of. also- the way that tax propositions work is that they're legally written to go towards specific things....if you're voting for bridge maintenance, its going to go to bridge maintenance...so if you're not voting on it, the government isn't going to "work within its means" to repair a bridge in a declining city lmaooooo they're going to spend more on the military. enjoy your failing public roads
I think many times its not that they can't afford to repair, it's that they don't want to spend they money until they are forced to. Then they run for cover pointing fingers as they go, which is sad as no human life should be treated that way
I couldn't agree more! Maybe if I better understood economics, I wouldn't be as frustrated by the way certain funds are earmarked. It is insane that some accounts can have an abundance of funds while others that desperately need it are in the red. Most decisions made on local, state and federal levels appear to be based on "I'll scratch you back if you'll scratch mine" with little regard to the populations they serve. Shameful.
I so agree with this. I live in Minneapolis, and prior to the bridge collapse, our state had a governor whose actual motto was 'no new taxes.' So many things went underfunded, and his admin was always looking for places to cut more spending. As if everything magically just keeps functioning when all its funding goes away. I loathed him.
@@msmagsmn I can’t speak to your governor specifically, but most politicians run on platforms that are set prior to their election. If he ran on a platform of not raising taxes, because there were enough constituents who wanted him to run on that platform, why is that his fault? He’s doing exactly what the people who voted him in wanted him to do. Blame your fellow cheap ass citizens who don’t understand that their taxes are needed to fund the society they live in.
@@trevordick272 Oh we have that problem here too! No one wants to fund anything until/unless it affects them specifically. I will lay plenty of blame at that governor's feet because he had been in office for two terms and involved himself HEAVILY in restricting state funding. He vetoed a gas tax to pay for transportation improvements - twice. After the collapse (and gratefully accepting federal disaster aid) he finally conceded that we needed funds for transportation maintenance and safety. People vote for all kinds of reasons. While I do agree people don't want to invest enough in the public good, I also think elected officials bear responsibility for austerity that hurts their constituents.
I live on Cape Cod, where the only way on and off the Cape are two bridges that span the canal that separates us from mainland MA. Both of these bridges were built in the 1930s and have been patched up and given a pass for nearly a century; nobody wants to shut down the bridges completely to replace them because they are crucial to our infrastructure and managing traffic for tourism has been more important than overall safety. Until now where things are literally at their breaking point. There’s no good answer- replacing the bridges will be immensely inconvenient for residents and tourists alike- but it has to happen because they’re just not safe. Especially when you consider that unless you have a boat, these two aging bridges are the only emergency exit off the Cape for everyone who lives here, and woefully inadequate to evacuate the whole population before some disaster. Thanks for an insightful video as always.
I remember this all too well, especially because I live in the Twin Cities. My kids and I were waiting for my husband at a fast casual restaurant. The 35W bridge was his route to where we were and the community center where he would take spin classes. The last I’d heard from him, he’d thought he was going to have to miss class because of something at work and just meet us at the restaurant. When the TV in the dining area broke in with a special report at about 6:10 or so that the bridge had collapsed, I almost got sick. The whole place fell silent as it hit us all, then was abuzz. Everyone knew someone who used that route daily. About 10 minutes into the report, my husband came in. It turned out that he’d said “screw the work issue” and decided he needed the spin class to relax. He had no idea what had happened, but he’d been on that bridge about an hour to 90 minutes before it fell. That time difference could have made me a widow or left me with a seriously disabled husband.
I find this story hard to believe, as you used the phrase "fast casual restaurant" instead of simply calling it McDonald's or something, and your husband is in SPIN CLASS? You might want to hire a private investigator, because there's only two reasons he's in that class. Likes men or likes women.
4:19 WOAH......... There was a video that told the story about that bus and it’s occupants! The woman driving the bus had her daughter on the bus. I think she broke her back but they were on a slant so she stayed there holding the brake so that everyone could get out of the back. Her daughter kept telling her she wasn’t going to leave her. The mom eventually got her off the bus and she was expecting to die on the bus. Then the 18 wheeler next to the bus caught fire. One of the other adults on the bus went back in and helped get her out of the bus before the flames could spread to the bus or before the bus finally slipped too far and went off the end of the bridge in front of it. Actually now that I think about it..... I think it was a “I Survived” episode. Good but extremely tragic story though.
My wife and young son were with in-laws in St. Paul while I was at a convention during this incident. I remember receiving a phone call from my wife, telling me first and foremost that she was OK. Even so, it scares me what 'could' have been had they been around that bridge during the collapse.
@@HeroicRecaps many of us have a story from that day. This effected the entire city and there is no reason not to share in our fear of that collapse. I had to wait an hour before finding out my dad was okay
Kudos to those bystanders who rushed in to help. In a disaster like this, bystanders are always the first people to respond. It's human nature to want to help others who are in trouble. The best way to help others in these situations is to get some sort of training. Whether it's first aid, emergency communication, search and rescue, fire supression, or whatever. I encourage everyone to get some sort of training. Check with the local Red Cross, CERT, state or local agencies, and find some local emergency training that is a good fit. Knowing what to do before an emergency strikes will save lives.
I was 5 when this happened. I didn’t live far from the Twin Cities, and I remember watching this on the news. My dad was a first responder and got called into work. Even though I was young, it was very surreal. Watching this now, I am certainly surprised and thankful that so many people made it out alive.
I’ve never suggested something for a TH-camr to do but you’ve inspired me so that changes today. Could you possibly look into the 1965 South Platte River Flood in Littleton Colorado? It’s not really that known and I don’t even know that much about it, and I live here! It would be awesome if you made a video on it.
I was wondering if you'd be interested in considering doing a video on the Granville Railway Disaster that took place in Sydney in 1977, they did two inquests afterwards and the things they uncovered in the aftermath would make a good video...
There is a good older doco on TH-cam about this. Australian. Watched it a while back. Excellent but was done a few decades ago but good footage. And interviews with survivors etc.
Agreed, the story of what happened in Granville is perfect for this channel. A family member of mine worked for NSW Police at the time (in admin at headquarters, not as an officer) and said that all of the police they knew who attended were so traumatised by it. They wrote up a lot of the transcripts from officer’s testimony, and said it was one of the worst things they had to do, beaten only by the evidence for Anita Cobby’s murder. I always remember the victims as my train passes that spot.
I’m from Minnesota and remember this happening. It was just so terrible. Thank you for the way in which you tell these events. Your research and respect for the incidents are outstanding
I began working in the precast concrete industry, in quality control, right after this occurred. To say government construction as a whole, especially in rust belt states, were shaken up is an understatement.
shortly after this, as a bridge replacement component in transit, a pretensioned concrete girder snapped in the middle shutting down a road. now where's my bunker blocks...
I drove over this bridge 4 to 6 times a day and had traversed it just shortly before it dropped. Had my previous appointment run long, this could be a very different comment... or none at all. There, but for the grace of God, goes I. 🙏
You were lucky, my grandpa had a similar experience in California, though it was the Loma Prieta quake. Left work early which he rarely does. However, if he hadn't, he would have been on the Cypress Freeway when it collapsed.
Why would you push your luck driving across the same bridge not only every single day but FOUR to SIX times a day!? What the hell did your job entail? Attempting a Guinness world record for most trips across the same bridge in a years worth of time?
A few years ago in Idaho a freak traffic accident resulted in a major fire under a freeway overpass. Engineers were concerned enough about the damage caused by the fire that the county elected to completely tear down and replace the overpass. It was nice to see infrastructure get the attention it needed for once.
Similar. We had a fuel truck overturn and burn our freeway entrance/exit overpass from the top and a car beneath. The replacement was fast tracked because it’s a main artery for the port. A few miles away, the north span of the river bridge was also replaced in 2006 because it was in danger of collapse.
Oh, we had something similar happen in Ohio a few years back, too. A fuel tanker caught fire beneath one of our major highway bridges (think it was one of the I-70's, but don't quote me on that). The damage was so severe they had to tear down basically that entire section of overpass and rebuild it entirely.
My family missed this by a year and a week or so. We went up and camped in Duluth in 2006. We went up again this year (2023) and took the time to visit the memorial on the way.
Thank you for covering this. Was a kid when it happened and I remember my dad talking about how he could feel the bridge wobbling a day or two on his commute before it collapsed. Good to hear that so many civilians jumped to help, too.
OMG this is one I suggested!! Thank you for doing this in a respectful way. I live in MN, drove over this bridge everyday to and from work, and missed bridge collapse by an hour. It really was eye opening…I’d never given bridges a second thought before this.
With 40 years of this design flaw remaining that means it was missed by generations of inspectors as it waited to just fail. That is fascinating and raises questions of what else in any infrastructure are just waiting there. On a positive note, these stories do always have one slight salve. Despite all the crookedness, the accidents, the design flaws, the neglect, or malice; there are always those who rush into the fray to help. Something I took to mind when the discussion of over 100 people from all over ran to the scene to help. Believe it was Mr. Rogers who said to "Look for the helpers" in any given story. Least some positive in a world that gives us these kinds of tragedies.
I do remember though that on the radio they were urging normal citizens to stay away from the area out of concern that it would jam traffic up and actually harm the professional rescue and emergency response.
I remember hearing them say the annual inspections only looked at fatigue, stress and condition of the existing design. The design failure was not looked at because the bridge was an approved design. Only after the failure was found did they look at other bridges with the same design and replace them. They replaced the division st bridge over the Mississippi river in St. Cloud Minnesota which has the same design.
Most design flaws can't be seen. The only way to check for them is to have another engineer check the drawings the original engineer put out. Sometime the inspector on site during construction catches a problem but not normally. It costs a lot of money to check those drawings. Loads aren't something you can visually check for unless the structure is about to fail and lots of times not even then.
Fun fact: my stepmom would have probably been on this bridge when it collapsed had it not been for her mother calling and asking to spend the day together with my stepbrother. So my grandma may have inadvertently saved my stepmom's life.
As someone who works in Minnesota in road construction, this disaster has caused so many changes to our bridges and thoroughness overalls in all aspects of road work
I remember this day quite clearly.. My family was having a get together. We were at my mothers house (in Wisconsin) and we were waiting for everyone to arrive. My cousin and his wife who lived in the twin cities were the last people we were waiting for. We had gotten a frantic phone call from my cousin who told us the bridge he had crossed had collapsed. He was freaked out and kept telling my family "That could of been us." I'm so grateful he and his wife weren't on the bridge as it collapsed. For the unlucky people who were trapped and didn't make it, rest in peace..
Really incredible video. We just had a full bridge collapse in Pittsburgh a month or two ago. Also, we are the city with the most bridges in the US. This was mildly discomforting to watch. I'll walk more often
I was 8 around the time this was happening, and we were driving my uncle down to the cities for something he needed to do after signing up for the navy. I remember the 4 of us (me, my parents, and him) all being stuck in traffic on the way back, which included sitting at a standstill on the bridge. idk how long we sat on it for, but we eventually got off and made our way home, and it wasn't until we turned on the news 30 minutes later that we found out it collapsed not to long after it did. Those 13 people should of never lost their lives that day. Thanks for covering this disaster, this is one I will never forget
Haha. I know a man who always types “should of” or “would of”. Funny how people substitute a completely different word (for “have” or “should’ve”) because they sound alike. For some reason it bugs me. I guess I have some grammar police in me as well. 😆
@FascinatingHorror, you are a treasure of TH-cam. Shining light on incidents in a respectful yet matter of fact manner is beyond commendable. I hope we get to learn from your content for years to come.
You’d probably feel a lot better crossing it as it was about to collapse than when it actually did collapse. As one means you were on it when it fell, yours means they got to the other side before it fell
Thank you for sharing this, I remember when it happened, it's hard to believe that it's been nearly 15 years since it happened. My sympathies to the victims, their families, and friends. Living in Iowa after growing up in central Minnesota, this was just another bridge that my route occasionally took me over on my trips home, bridge safety and structural integrity something I just took for granted. After the collapse I wondered just how safe these bridges actually were? As tragic as this collapse was, the response of constructing a replacement bridge in the span of only a year or so is also amazing, especially considering Minnesota winters.
Hi! Fairly new subscriber from South Korea here! ^^ I love, love, LOVE how you narrate - you pronounce everything meticulously and in an articulate manner, and make me, who uses English as a second language, understand exactly what you are saying! Thank you so much for this video, like every single one of your videos! ^^ I'd love it if you would cover the Seongsu Bridge (성수대교) Collapse on Oct 21, 1994, in South Korea! ;0 my dad was supposed to be traveling on the bridge that morning to work, but he decided to 'call in sick' and spend time at home with my mom and me (I was just one year old at the time) that day. After the collapse happened, my parents told me we got soooo many frantic phone calls from relatives and friends who knew what route my dad took to work.
I've been binge watching your videos for the past 3 hours. I love the way when your talking about the fatality and injury numbers the screen goes dark. True respect for the victims
I'm a born and raised Minnesotan. No Minnesotan will never forget this moment. Whether you knew someone in the accident or someone who help. I remember being in high school and raised money for the support afterward. There was also a massive construction projects across the state to fix bridges we had 3 or 4 small bridges done in our area. (60mi radius) And I live in a small town surrounded by small towns, just sad it took this to happened to have change. But the seem to alway be how it is... Thanks for your amazing videos... Keep up the great content...
I had a bird's eye view of the I35w bridge right after the collapse. I lived in an apartment building overlooking the bridge, there were tv news crews EVERYWHERE. Lookieloos crowded the parking lot so much they risked collapsing a portion of the upper level. They got so bad that the cops had to put up police tape up. Afterwards the rebuilding of the bridge lasted MONTHS, months of listening to construction crews using a giant hammer to drive pilings into the river bed, months of construction dust wreaking havoc on my asthma. Ended up making money off it though, a news crew wanted some shots of the scene from above and asked me if they could take pictures from our apartment window, I asked for $500 for permission thinking it'd be too expensive for them as a way of saying no without actually saying no. Boy was I surprised when they coughed up the cash!
@@rebeccawhite3731 I heard THAT! That's exactly what I thought right after they paid me, oh well at LEAST I got paid! Our fridge was full for a week AND I got a new video game for my Xbox
Had my wife not met me two months prior and moved back home to Kansas in July after her internship, she would have been driving on this bridge about the time it collapsed. Thank God for good timing!!
My nan had second thoughts about catching a plane to somewhere in regional Australia. Sure enough, the plane she was supposed to be on crashed in a town called Winton. I believe my mum also had second thoughts about going to Darwin for Christmas. That day and the day after, cyclone Tracy wiped more than half the entire city off the face of the earth. These things happen sometimes! I’m glad you had a change of plans!
My mom was going to see the trade towers on 9/11 She woke up at 5am and they decided not to, and to head home early. They are 3 hours away when the first plane hit Follow your intuition always!
@@hulahole I heard this loud boom sound that was apparently coming from behind me, as I had just crossed the bridge. I didn't know what it was at first but then I saw it and I was so shocked. I saw the first part drop like a rock and I can't say if I was even driving at that time but when I got myself together I gunned the gas and hit a car in front of me that had stopped..sorry for carrying on. I didn't realize how badly it affected me until watching this video. I shouldn't even feel sorry for myself. Watching the news and seeing the brave people pulling bodies out of the water..those people are heroes.
I was told by my uncle, who did bridge maintenance in the Twin Cities back in the day, to stay off this bridge and a few others in town. He knew they were stressing it and didn't want us to end up on it when it collapsed.
My dad drove over that bridge three minutes before it collapsed. He said there were MNDOT crews jackhammering on it and the bridge was noticeably wobbling. Several engineering schools throughout Minnesota forge rings from the old bridge’s steel trusses (an albeit, morbid way) to ensure they always remember the importance of sound structural design.
Minnesota native here, I was 12 at the time this happened and I remember sitting downstairs in the basement watching TV when my dad came rushing down and asked me if I wanted to see something scary. I thought at that moment he was kidding till he showed me what was on the news, that was definitely a day we minnesotans dont forget easily.
As a Minnesotan, I still clearly remember this event... it was horrifying to watch and hear about. Since my dad worked in St Cloud, I was worried that he might use the bridge. He didn't use it, as that's not on the way home. We use the new bridge occasionally and honestly it still kind of scares me to go on it, even though I know it's been completely rebuilt with higher safety standards.
Here in Memphis, one of the busiest bridges in the country, the Hernando De Soto Bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas, was shut down because of a massive crack last year. Eventually it came out that the crack had been there since at least 2016, and inspectors were skipping required inspections. When I think of the fact that the Silver Bridge collapse in West Virginia in 1968 killed almost fifty people, and that was a much smaller bridge, and the flaw in THAT collapse was caused by a 0.1 inch flaw in a bearing, I get cold all over. I think we came really close to something extremely tragic happening in Memphis. It sucks when you can't trust regulators and business to keep you safe.
This was, and still is, one of the most horrifying days of my life, and it's stayed with me every single time I've gone over a bridge since. I appreciate the care and respect that you brought to this video as you always do with every topic you cover
Crazy to actually see something that happened locally on your channel. I drove over this exact bridge (as I did every day to/from work at the time) about 3 hours before it collapsed. Crazy times
The irony is that it was an accurate assessment, as none of the (known) deficiencies contributed to the collapse. It's scary to think there are roughly 100,000 structures nation wide that are categorized as deficient. How many bridges are there even in total? How hard is it to find a bridge that is not "deficient within tolerable limits"?
@@renerpho There is simply too much road infrastructure in the US for there to ever be enough funds to fix everything. Before building all this stuff, the leaders should have pondered the astronomical cost of maintaining it all.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking - Ryanair would like to assure you that this plane is deficient within tolerable limits. We wish you a pleasant flight."
@@monsterfurby Airplanes literally have lists of failures that are permitted, and failures that ground the aircraft. Like… engine failure? Grounded. Failure of a sensor that has triple redundancy? Allowed - but not for transoceanic. (Theoretical examples. The minimum equipment varies by aircraft type.) Just like your car doesn’t become undrivable when the Check Engine light comes on, many failures (or deficiencies) are not serious enough to warrant servicing immediately, and can wait till the airplane goes in for servicing.
This hits close to home, I live around Minneapolis and I remember vividly when it happened. I was super young, but it was still a core memory for me. Thanks for the great content as always 🙌
I live here and watched this story develop in real-time on the local TV stations, starting with a news program that broke in to say "We're getting reports of a bridge collapse on I-35W"... Had this happened only an hour earlier, during end-of-workday "rush hour", that bridge would have been bumper-to-bumper traffic it's entire length. The fact that *only* 13 people died is a small miracle in itself, though that's no comfort to those who lost loved ones that day. :(
We in PA have a heavily traveled bridge with the same type of bridge. Many vehicles 'sit' on the bridge every morning and evening. My husband will no longer drive over it if he can avoid it. And we just had a bridge collapse here. Our bridges are in horrible shape yet still open.
Which bridge collapsed? I remember hearing something about one but i cant remember where in pa it was. I know the one over the susquehanna wasnt technically a collapse cuz of the ice build up hears ago but i know that one is talked about constantly
@@konoyumekara --- the Frick Park bridge collapsed around the end of January of this year. Ironically Biden was here to discuss 'infrastructure" that very day and came to the collapsed site. Now the bridges in Pittsburgh are being 'reviewed' and some are being shut down. Amazing how that happens.
This happened while I was on a road trip in another part of the country with my grandma who is terrified of bridges to begin with. It was on the news constantly so there was no avoiding it and as you can imagine, it freaked my grandma out even more about all bridges. Every time we had to go over one, she would close her eyes, plug her ears, and just say “bridge, bridge, bridge, bridge” the entire time we crossed… I was only like 9 at the time, but I will never forget it. It made my mom, who was driving, very annoyed, especially because there were a lot of bridges we had to cross on this trip.
Yeah, the memory of this one never really disappears, at least for me. I don't go into Minneapolis much, but crossing over the new bridge always hits me with an eerie feeling. My brother in law had crossed over the bridge about 5-10 minutes before the collapse too. I learned some new details here as to what went wrong though, so thank you for covering it. I think these finer details got a bit drowned out by the narrative that the bridge was just old and needed maintenance that the government wasn't willing to fund (at least from what I remember, I was just out of high school at the time).
I lived next to the bridge, was a first responder, and triaged many victims at the U of M hospital. That day still haunts me and just going over a bridge causes me anxiety.
72,500 U.S. bridges are rated deficient?! I had to rewind to make sure I heard that correctly. Wow, that's a scary thought. I guess with the explosion of bridge construction, maybe they were working too fast? Time constraints, and money of course, can have a lot of bad effect on construction.
It sounds more that the "deficient" rating is designed to apply to every bridge, so as to create pressure and sponsor corporations that do maintenance. Kind of the same way like there had to be a terrible p*ndemic to fill the pockets of the pharma giants.
Actually, the bridges were probably just fine when they were built, but some of them are coming up on 100 years old. This is far past the design life, but there is no longer as strong an emphasis on infrastructure as compared to say the 1920s-1970s. I was a field engineer on a small bridge replacement a few years ago, and the original concrete was crumbling badly. I kicked one of the abutment wingwalls and a large section fell into the river below. This was an 80yo bridge on a state highway that was open to semis just the day previous. They are being replaced as fast as possible, but the deferred maintenance of the past 30+years is really catching up.
And that number of 70,000+ bridges isn't some figure that was formulated yesterday. That number has been married to every single bridge collapse over the last decade at least. Of course that's probably attributed to a public that becomes too "comfortable" when public scares are at their annual lows
The United States has more money than they could ever use on bridges, they just prefer to spend about 60% of it on the military industrial complex, it's really awesome and worth it!!
I lived in Minneapolis at the time, and my father was commuting home from work at the time of the collapse; fortunately he had been working late, so even though the bridge was on his route he wasn't caught in it. Took him hours to get home, though, because they had to reroute thousands of cars onto bridges that weren't designed to accommodate that much traffic.
I was in Minnesota when this happened and had travelled over that bridge on my way to my grandparents in Backus. When we got to my grandparents, they talked about the bridge we had been on just a few hours earlier.
That's what every second comment is to this video. "As a Minnesota resident..." OR "I was travelling over this piece of shit bridge five minutes before it collapsed..." WOW
I had not seen the photo of the crushed bakery truck before. Terrific video as always. No glamorizing of events or overblown narrative . I love your vids.
That you for do this video and doing it so respectfully. I’ve lived in Minneapolis my whole life and this collapse really shook us all to our core. There are still some who won’t drive on the new 35-W bridge.
its so annoying; there could be 50 bridges built like this one, and then only this one ends up collapsing, a whole bunch of new regulations are made and some of those regulations are a little heavy handed because of emotional response to the disaster Then people look at regulations and say "this stuff is pointless!" because they didnt see all the decision making and thinking that went into the creation of the regulation
My son was born a little over a week before this happened. Even though I'm a "local" I didn't travel this route regularly, but I had a ton of friends and family contact me to see if I was OK. Tragic events and this is now the 15th anniversary.
I lived in Minneapolis when this happened. 35w was on my direct route to and from work. I was supposed to get off at 6pm. If I had gotten out on time, I would have been around or on the bridge when it collapsed at 6:05. However, I got a call an hour earlier, asking me to stay late. That call saved me. I remember a bunch of stories came out of the collapse, including a child who was rescued from an abusive family, because the bruises on their body didn’t match what happened. A bus driver saved an entire bus full of school children. He was lauded as national hero, and refused to shake George bush’s hand (which made him even cooler imo). I also remember a local bridge skyrocketing from 200th place to be repaired, to a number top priority, because one of the columns had moved 45” from where it originally was. We definitely need more infrastructure. And there is money, but US politicians care more about bloated military funding than they do about public safety
It's really scary to think that the one bridge failed with the breakage of the one plate; showing pretty much every piece is important (and the bridge would likely fail that catastrophically with ANY kind of piece breaking). That one piece is just too thin, too weak, and with a little extra weight, the whole thing tumbles.
In 2012 I was working at a nearby theatre on internship. My bus stop was very close to the memorial, and I also noticed the debris and columns that are still there in the river. For some reason it didn’t click until just now how recent the collapse was, and how I crossed the new bridge - like thousands of other people - twice a day.
I can't believe it's been this long since it happened! I lived 20 minutes away from that bridge for 27 years, and used it occasionally. Several members of my family regularly commuted across it for work, doctor's appointments, events, etc. At any time, the bridge could have failed and any twin cities resident could have been one of the people on the bridge - terrifying to think about. I'm again moved by the quick response of volunteers and rescue services to help people. I don't think any Minnesotan who was around for this will ever forget it.
While I've never lived in Minnesota, I-35 has a special place in my heart. To think that a bridge located on a high-traffic interstate highway could just fall into a river like that is both ridiculous and terrifying.
Absolutely appalling incompetence which seems to be the running theme among most incidents covered here, I am actually surprised and glad there were so few fatal victims from a collapse of such magnitude. Thanks for the video, superb work as usual.
I'm not sure "incompetence" is really the right word, here. Yes, they missed the mistake, which was, as said in the video, in plain sight. But they were looking for structural issues related to use and age, not design. This is a problem that should have been caught in the design review phase; people assumed that, having passed that review, the design was sufficient.
@@Coygon The one’s I am more angry about, are the one’s where they ignore the the known problem that leads to the accident. Honestly the way they were treating the reports sounds like this bridge would have collapsed from something else even if they had caught this structural flaw.
Random bad luck when everything else was done perfectly is quite rare. Stuff is generally safe when it's maintained which is why most disasters show a lack of that
Down a little south in the Chicago suburbs (ok more than a little south I suppose hah) we had an overpass apparently owned by Union Pacific collapse probably 10 years ago now that killed a couple in their car, so they end up building a new one same spot its already rusting which no idea how normal that is structural engineer I ain’t haha, but I swear there are some big ol cracks showing, plus very busy intersection right by a school so gets backed up to where you’re stuck underneath it at red lights all the time 🙃
@@supermoneyball420 if you see cracks and rust report this. It most likely won't do anything but it's worth it. Also don't use it. You shouldn't see visible cracks That is going to fall again
Thank you for posting this. I grew up right next door both my parents worked in medical care and my mom had that night off but my dad was called to that scene. I was a little kid and barley remember that night. Last year I got taught by the man who coordinated the 911 response of the incident. Great man.
Am I remember seeing a security camera video on TV that showed this bridge falling. I've always imagined that's more than likely the image you would have seen if you had witnessed the Silver Bridge collapsing.
Could you do a video on the collapse of the first Tay Bridge? I know there's already several TH-cam videos on this subject, but I'd appreciate your clear and detailed account.
I was 8 when this happened, and living in the suburbs of Minneapolis. I remember being at my dad’s office with my mom and hearing about it in the radio. I was scared shitless driving over bridges for years afterwards. Now I drive over the new 35W bridge fairly often for work, and I think about this tragedy every time.
I lived in Wisconsin at the time this happened, but my family was driving through Minneapolis to get to my grandparents house when this happened. We got there and my grandma was so worried about all of us (my mom didn't have a cell phone so she didn't know what happened). We didn't drive across that bridge that day but I still get startled by the fact that if my mom drove a different way through the cities, I might have been on that bridge.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
Funny, isn't it, that there is never any money to fix or do essential repairs to a building or structure at the time, yet when said building/structure collapses, there is all of a sudden plenty of money there to replace it fully...
And to rescue / recover the victims probably can't be cheap either
One collapse every several years is probably cheaper than replacing all the structurally deficient bridges all at once, sadly.
Yeah, well if tax payers and voters wanted to complain about infrastructure being the most important issue on their mind, they would.
But they complain about Critical Race Theory, Gender bathroom policy, abortion laws, and covid-policy.
Citizens get the government they deserve.
Never any money for real maintenance or replacement but plenty for election runs, benefits for the upper class or allies overseas. No government really cares about making their own country as good as it can be, they only care about getting rich/er & passing the buck.
@@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368 it may be shocking to you, but people can care about more than 1 thing at a time you clown
I live in Minnesota and after this collapse, every bridge in the the state was inspected with a much harder line. Every bridge over the interstates, bridges over rivers even tiny little bridges over small creeks or waterways. They replaced at least three tiny bridges near where I live in the following years. And I mean tiny, unless you knew what to look for, you would likely never even notice it was a bridge which I suspect meant they were seldom inspected. The bridge on the road to my house was replaced when it was discovered that it was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed earlier.
Me too! I'm in rural Minnesota and so many tiny bridges were replaced around us. Feels like they are still replacing a lot of them.
My family and I used to drive across that bridge to visit my grandparents. At the time it blew my tiny little mind that one of those victims could have been me and my family. It was an unwanted revelation to 11yo me who thought I was safe no matter where I was.
The Stillwater bridge was closed for a long time. I can't remember if that was a result of the 35W collapse or not.
Do you remember the stink when the bridge to St. Cloud was then closed because it was the same age and had been made/designed by the same firm? I get that the drive to cross the river was almost an hour out of the way, but a collapse there would have been just as disastrous.
And as for the 35W bridge, my husband had driven over it maybe an hour before it fell. The thought that I could have been a widow with an 8yo and 14yo is still chilling.
i was a kid when this happened, and we were on the bridge 25 minutes before the collapse. When i got home the radio was on (always was) and Moon and Stacy were giving the tragic news. It was so fucking bizarre man
As a kid growing up in Minnesota, I thought the civilian response to the accident was normal. When I was in a car accident, it was maybe 3 seconds between impact and a group of six worried looking people pulling my car door open. Thank goodness for all the efforts that went into saving lives, because 13 people is a lot of people (too many) but it sure as heck could have been more.
As someone who doesn't live in Minnesota, fuck Minnesota.
It’s because midwesterners are nice! Garrison Keillor said that in the Midwest, nobody’s a stranger, just a friend you haven’t given a jumpstart to yet.
Yeah, even in the twin cities people are generally really caring individuals. Which is unusual for a city space! But as a Minnesotan that made me pretty proud to hear haha
American hospitality 🇺🇸
I love this. When I heard about the response that civilians gave during this, my heart believed in humanity again just for a second.
I really appreciate documentary channels like this. Hearing someone just give out facts about what happened, why, and the aftermath is much more preferable to me than any dramatization. It's respectful, and I'm finding out about so many incidents that I've never heard of. Thank you for your work.
Well said.
It never fails to boggle my mind that we're allowing our bridges to get so bad when the bulk of them are in desperate need of replacement. If something isn't done I fear we'll see more collapses in the coming years. Anyway, another amazing video as always! Thanks Fascinating Horror!
Right? The town where I grew up is split by three rivers, so crossing bridges is a daily necessity, but at least two of them are rated as deficient.
It’s also because people complain it cost too much, never thinking that the longer it goes on the more expensive it will get.
Well, "deficient" is a pretty minor categorization, and doesn't necessarily mean "dangerous". In a lot of cases, spending time and money fixing something that is merely deficient is often wasteful.
Well maybe if companies didn't incur an additional 20-50% cost for pointless arbitrary gubment paperwork it would be easier and more cost effective.
@Irving Shekelstein yes, it's the fault of reparations.... something that literally does not exist in the US, or the fault of black people on welfare....something which helps poor white people more than poor people of any other race, and affirmative action? explain to us how affirmative action causes the government to not maintain public utilities. The fed gave $864 million in welfare to corporations last year and that doesn't include the millions each individual state hands out. Public utilities are funded through taxes....who isn't paying taxes? the wealthy who have the means to evade them all while working class people like you and me have to pay large parts of our paycheck to give those same people more subsidies. why are you mad at fellow workers? most people on programs like medicare and food Stamps work for a living and are just paid minimum wage. you're being taken advantage of by rich people and are forced to pay more in taxes to maintain public services we all use, because they won't, and you STILL kiss their ass and blame working class black people.
"Structurally deficient... within tolerable limits" has to be one of the most egregious examples of negligently kicking the can down the road that I've ever heard of. Self-interested politicians always love announcing "big and bold" new infrastructure projects (especially in election years) without bothering to cost out and secure funding to maintain that infrastructure over the decades to come. Details like that always seem to become the next generations problem, or the next after that, and so on. Until some tragedy occurs and lives are lost.
It's immediacy bias. People tend to be more impressed by shiny new projects. A bridge that hasn't collapsed yet is still usable, so the average voter doesn't care. Spend billions to repair an unsafe but still functional bridge and all most voters will remember is the inconvenience of the closure and the tax dollars that got taken out of their pocket. That's why no politician wants to be the one to spend on maintenance - it's vitally important, but not sexy and this won't help them get reelected like a shiny new project will.
The fact that there are over 70,000 US bridges that qualify as "structurally deficient" is frightening to be honest. How many more collapses on the scale of this one will the US see because of this? It boggles my mind.
In addition to Corey's note, there's often the fact that funds for new construction will come from different sources and programs than maintenance. Very often you can get federal grants for a new infrastructure project, but maintenance has to come from local tax dollars. Since maintenance is rarely something the general public thinks about (unless it's road work season, and then it's a nuisance) it's very hard to get people to accept any tax hike to pay for maintenance or replacement. See also, deferred maintenance being SOP for companies that want to keep their earnings looking good, or how many duct-tape quick fixes are deployed in the average household. Maintenance just isn't a priority anywhere.
Sounds like something someone had to write in their report, forced by their boss.
@@djmoch1001 Keep in mind that I am sure the list is full of back road bridges like farming roads and small communities. For example it is very common here in Washington state to have a bridge to reach a small community of maybe 100 homes in the forest, I have crossed hundreds of small wood bridges some are only 1 car wide, it is just depending on the funds available comapred to the number of people that use it. In the future as populations grow that will change.
As a Minnesotan I can tell you this was one of those "do you remember where you were when _ happened?"
Also thanks for doing this disaster, as it should be remembered, still learned new things too
As a Millennial from Minnesota, 9/11 and this bridge collapse were the two most dramatic events in my lifetime.
I was about to enter my senior year of high school. But I don't remember where I was when I heard about it. I remember where I was when Michael Jackson died, waiting for the 4 bus downtown near MCTC. Heard it from another person waiting for a bus. I only had a flip phone at the time.
Fellow Minnesota millennial here.
Oddly enough I could tell you exactly where I was as 9/11 happened and when MJ died, but I don't remember where I was when I heard I-35W collapsed.
I only remember frantically calling to see if my aunt (who drove across that brige a handful of times per day) was okay. She had driven across it roughly 5 minutes before the collapse...
yup normally i would of been going right over that bridge when that happened, for some reason i went 694 instead , got home and went omg wtf, yes will remember that day very very well.
I was in Austria and woke up to the headline "Katastrophe in Minneapolis." Terrifying, but luckily none of my family or friends were regularly in that area. Found out later my dad had crossed that bridge just a few days before the collapse.
This channel continues to be of the highest quality. In addition to a lack of swearing, it also has on-screen citations of the photographs used, and there are no short video segments of things that have nothing to do with the story -- as some other channels do. The topics continue to be compelling and well-researched.
And no annoying dramatic music.
A diaster I'm intimately familiar with: I had several friends and my mother in law who were in transit from Minneapolis to the eastern suburbs. All of them had to pass over that bridge to get home. Everyone was accounted for, except for my mother in law, who called us several hours later once she realized what happened. She had gone over the bridge somewhere between 10-15 minutes before the collapse
To be honest I’m surprised there weren’t more deaths. The collapse looked absolutely horrific. I think the worst part is that everyone was just going about their day. Trying to get home or working before catastrophe appears from nowhere. So sad. Very scary to know there are a lot of bridges that are definitely far from safe.
Emergency responders and emergency room staff do amazing work.
@@princeofcupspoc9073 They really do. Imagine what would happen if they didn’t exist. Plus, imagine the trauma they have to endure whilst saving so many people. It has to be one of the hardest professions I can imagine.
I still clearly remember watching this happen. What I remember the most is the school bus full of children that was trapped on the edge of the bridge, dangerously close to the water.
@@princessravendiamond4288 were they all ok? Did they get out?
Same here. When I first heard of it on the news I was horrified. Bridge collapses are bad, but the Mississippi is such a large river, I thought so many had been killed.
“This structure is insufficient in its integrity and should be replaced, but that’s a problem for another day. If it’s standing today it’ll stand tomorrow, right?” Seems to be the most common mindset with infrastructure around the US, it’s just kicking the can down the road. There was that bridge collapse in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago too.
Officials doing the cheapest bare minimum until a tragedy happens, always the case. Even today there's something somewhere that experts are warning about but someone is putting it off for another day until a catastrophe. Global warming maybe?
Sunny: where in Pa? I haven't heard of that one....Tee
Yeah I haven't heard of it either. Was it s small bridge?
@@terywetherlow7970 Forbes Avenue bridge in Pittsburgh
Iowa inspection ai t look so good either .
I was getting off the bridge when it collapsed. I was on my way home from work when it happened. Thank you for posting this! I knew a couple people that were on it and survived, but were severely injured. Scary stuff.
Once again, hindsight is a wonderful thing but it takes 13 deaths for funding to be miraculously found for a brand new bridge.
unfortunatelly that fatal flaw was not noticed by all inspections.
The rich are basically sociopaths, human lives mean nothing to then except the cost to replace them.
That's sadly the case for many preventable disasters, especially in the U.S. Politicians and companies seldom seem to care about problems until a tragedy occurs that cannot be ignored. Whether it be airline operations, fire safety codes or even engineering problems like the leeves in New Orleans.
"but it takes 13 deaths for funding to be miraculously found for a brand new bridge" -- yeah, well that I guess. And the fact that the old bridge was gone. Go without wasn't going to be an option.
@@EdwardBertsch I'd also guess the need for a bridge was more pressing than loss of lives.
I live in Minneapolis. I remember that day so well. Senator Amy Klobuchar summed up the feeling in a seemingly obviously true statement that "A bridge shouldn't just fall down in the middle of America." In the Twin CIties, most of us had/have traveled over that bridge. I have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. One of my best friends took it daily at the time and--glued to my TV--I urgently tried to get ahold of him. The cell towers were overwhelmed. (We really do not realize how quickly communications will shut down in even an isolated crisis. Fortunately, he had driven over the bridge minutes before the disaster. In the Art Center at the State Fair that year there was a directly overhead aerial photo of the collapsed bridge. It still--only weeks old as an event--was a center of attention of visitors who asked, "Where were you when the bridge came down?"
Yes, I concur with other posters. We need an infrastructure bill, regardless of which party is in power.
Amy Klobofuckingloser destroyed Minnesota.
Thanks to Sleepy Joe, we got a good start. Let's hope we can continue electing leaders that have a vested, passionate interest in maintaining our architecture and preventing the unnecessary loss of life associated with neglecting it. 🤞
@@giancarloortiz9236 sleepy Joe was the ONLY ONE IN HISTORY to get one done. MAGAt
@@dystopian.. I was...supporting him? I think it's groundbreaking that we got something. I hope it sets a precedent.
@@giancarloortiz9236 then you would not have called him sleepy Joe. Clown
I was 13 when the bridge collapsed and it was one of the most horrifying and surreal things I’ve ever witnessed.
My dad took me and my siblings to see the wreckage a few weeks later and the vision of seeing those cars in the water is a vision I’ll never forget.
I was 9 at the time. My mother and I were glued to the TV because my father was a paramedic and had deep water training so he was called in all the way from Woodbury.
Another thorough and respectful video. If you can, I would love to see you cover the 1989 explosion at the Exxon refinery in Baton Rouge. I have a personal connection to that one in that if my dad had gone in that day like he originally wanted to, he would have been at almost the epicenter of the blast.
Already covered. Check Wikipedia. You’re welcome 😉
@@joshcantrell8397 wikipedia is ass bro
@@joshcantrell8397 Wikipedia isn’t reading itself to me while I do other stuff 🥸
OMG I'm glad he didn't. Why was that?
@@joshcantrell8397 dude literally anybody can go in and change literally anything on Wikipedia. It is not a reliable source of information
Man; my dad, brother, and I crossed this bridge coming home from the Children's museum in MSP about an hour before the collapse. I was so intrigued by this collapse, my senior project in 2015 was on Failing American Infrastructure. We had a massive project and presentation required for graduation. Through the time spent researching, one of my mentors gave me a small display jar with some concrete from the bridge collapse. He was an engineer from the twin cities that helped determine the cause of the collapse!
Incredible story.
I was hoping you would do this one! Coming from the area and living here at the time, I knew so many people who were affected. One of those who died used to work with my mom. Another remembrance is held at the Minnesota History Center: the emergency door from the bus you see stuck on the bridge. It was signed by all the kids who were rescued.
I don't know how to express how informative, respectful, and well-edited these videos consistently are. You have many imitators and none of them have your grace and your even presentation. Thank you for this content.
Man this one hits close to home. I grew up in Cambridge, MN about an hour north of Minneapolis and lived there my entire life. I remember the day the bridge collapsed. I was sitting at home with my mom and dad watching the TV when it cut off the show to announce that the collapse had just taken place. My mother was frantic because she knew this was right around the time of day that my older sister got off work and she drove over that bridge every day to and from work. She called my sister and she had passed over the bridge literally 10 min prior to its collapse. She didn't believe my mom until she got home and watched the footage on the news for herself. Needless to say, she didn't get much sleep for the next few days thinking about how close to death she had been. My heart goes out to all the people affected by the collapse and every time I pass over the bridge to this day it feels like the world goes silent for that short time you're suspended over the Mississippi.
You know, I never thought of that, but it’s true. I’ve driven over it many times since the new bridge opened and I feel that silence too.
I love this channel. It’s always interesting, but respectful. If you’re interested in a lesser known tragedy, the Bluffton Baseball Team’s bus crash still haunts people where I grew up.
I have two friends that were on the bridge when it collapsed, they are fine now but they never brought it up. I found out later when they were on a news story about the collapse when the new bridge was opening.
Also if I remember correctly there was an increase in the gas tax that they had been trying to get approved for a while to increase infrastructure funding. Since no one likes increased taxes it wasn't getting through, but if course right after the bridge collapsed it went through real quick. You also forget living in a city split by a river how great bridges are until you don't have one.
Yeah, who cares about infrastructure, better spend the money on nose m*sks or war toys.
I never vote for any added tax for infrastructure. Government always takes more and more. They need to learn to work inside their means. There are dozens of taxes we already pay for things exactly like this but they always want more.
You act like government ever actually spends the money they steal for what they say they steal it for.
@@alecb8509 No kidding. Years ago, my town voted to increase property tax to fund the local failing hospital. The hospital was obviously failing due to mismanagement, but the vote passed anyway. A couple years later, the hospital finally went under and got demolished, then a few years after that they built a new clinic with better management. And naturally the property tax. . . Didn't go down at all. C'est la government.
@@alecb8509 I wonder why a government which allows rich people to evade taxes keeps taxing poor people into the ground??? could it be because no one is pressuring the wealthy to pay their fair share like working class people already do? lol some of y'all are so stuck on paying taxes you're missing the fact that you're getting fucked by wealthy people who don't have to pay for any of the public services they use to make money off of.
also- the way that tax propositions work is that they're legally written to go towards specific things....if you're voting for bridge maintenance, its going to go to bridge maintenance...so if you're not voting on it, the government isn't going to "work within its means" to repair a bridge in a declining city lmaooooo they're going to spend more on the military. enjoy your failing public roads
I think many times its not that they can't afford to repair, it's that they don't want to spend they money until they are forced to. Then they run for cover pointing fingers as they go, which is sad as no human life should be treated that way
I couldn't agree more! Maybe if I better understood economics, I wouldn't be as frustrated by the way certain funds are earmarked. It is insane that some accounts can have an abundance of funds while others that desperately need it are in the red. Most decisions made on local, state and federal levels appear to be based on "I'll scratch you back if you'll scratch mine" with little regard to the populations they serve. Shameful.
I so agree with this. I live in Minneapolis, and prior to the bridge collapse, our state had a governor whose actual motto was 'no new taxes.' So many things went underfunded, and his admin was always looking for places to cut more spending. As if everything magically just keeps functioning when all its funding goes away. I loathed him.
@@msmagsmn I can’t speak to your governor specifically, but most politicians run on platforms that are set prior to their election. If he ran on a platform of not raising taxes, because there were enough constituents who wanted him to run on that platform, why is that his fault? He’s doing exactly what the people who voted him in wanted him to do.
Blame your fellow cheap ass citizens who don’t understand that their taxes are needed to fund the society they live in.
They know it has to be fixed, but they're all hoping they can kick the can down the road long enough for it to become somebody else's responsibility.
@@trevordick272 Oh we have that problem here too! No one wants to fund anything until/unless it affects them specifically. I will lay plenty of blame at that governor's feet because he had been in office for two terms and involved himself HEAVILY in restricting state funding. He vetoed a gas tax to pay for transportation improvements - twice. After the collapse (and gratefully accepting federal disaster aid) he finally conceded that we needed funds for transportation maintenance and safety.
People vote for all kinds of reasons. While I do agree people don't want to invest enough in the public good, I also think elected officials bear responsibility for austerity that hurts their constituents.
I live on Cape Cod, where the only way on and off the Cape are two bridges that span the canal that separates us from mainland MA. Both of these bridges were built in the 1930s and have been patched up and given a pass for nearly a century; nobody wants to shut down the bridges completely to replace them because they are crucial to our infrastructure and managing traffic for tourism has been more important than overall safety. Until now where things are literally at their breaking point. There’s no good answer- replacing the bridges will be immensely inconvenient for residents and tourists alike- but it has to happen because they’re just not safe. Especially when you consider that unless you have a boat, these two aging bridges are the only emergency exit off the Cape for everyone who lives here, and woefully inadequate to evacuate the whole population before some disaster. Thanks for an insightful video as always.
I remember this all too well, especially because I live in the Twin Cities. My kids and I were waiting for my husband at a fast casual restaurant. The 35W bridge was his route to where we were and the community center where he would take spin classes. The last I’d heard from him, he’d thought he was going to have to miss class because of something at work and just meet us at the restaurant. When the TV in the dining area broke in with a special report at about 6:10 or so that the bridge had collapsed, I almost got sick. The whole place fell silent as it hit us all, then was abuzz. Everyone knew someone who used that route daily.
About 10 minutes into the report, my husband came in. It turned out that he’d said “screw the work issue” and decided he needed the spin class to relax. He had no idea what had happened, but he’d been on that bridge about an hour to 90 minutes before it fell. That time difference could have made me a widow or left me with a seriously disabled husband.
I find this story hard to believe, as you used the phrase "fast casual restaurant" instead of simply calling it McDonald's or something, and your husband is in SPIN CLASS? You might want to hire a private investigator, because there's only two reasons he's in that class. Likes men or likes women.
@@CRCfailwhat the hell is wrong with you?
4:19 WOAH......... There was a video that told the story about that bus and it’s occupants! The woman driving the bus had her daughter on the bus. I think she broke her back but they were on a slant so she stayed there holding the brake so that everyone could get out of the back. Her daughter kept telling her she wasn’t going to leave her. The mom eventually got her off the bus and she was expecting to die on the bus. Then the 18 wheeler next to the bus caught fire. One of the other adults on the bus went back in and helped get her out of the bus before the flames could spread to the bus or before the bus finally slipped too far and went off the end of the bridge in front of it. Actually now that I think about it..... I think it was a “I Survived” episode. Good but extremely tragic story though.
I remember watching that on tv as a kid it would have had to have been not long after it happened
It was an episode of "I Survived...", the trucker perished in the fire that consumed his cab in front of the bus.
@@OpiceSF That’s what I thought. I mean I said that at the bottom of my comment. 🤷🏻♂️
@@J-Rod91 Yeah, I was confirming that since you didn't seem sure?🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
I love how respectful you are when talking about these tragedies.
My wife and young son were with in-laws in St. Paul while I was at a convention during this incident. I remember receiving a phone call from my wife, telling me first and foremost that she was OK. Even so, it scares me what 'could' have been had they been around that bridge during the collapse.
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@@HeroicRecaps many of us have a story from that day. This effected the entire city and there is no reason not to share in our fear of that collapse. I had to wait an hour before finding out my dad was okay
@@HeroicRecaps I mean... There were people it happened to buddy, but go off I guess
Kudos to those bystanders who rushed in to help. In a disaster like this, bystanders are always the first people to respond. It's human nature to want to help others who are in trouble.
The best way to help others in these situations is to get some sort of training. Whether it's first aid, emergency communication, search and rescue, fire supression, or whatever. I encourage everyone to get some sort of training. Check with the local Red Cross, CERT, state or local agencies, and find some local emergency training that is a good fit. Knowing what to do before an emergency strikes will save lives.
I was 5 when this happened. I didn’t live far from the Twin Cities, and I remember watching this on the news. My dad was a first responder and got called into work. Even though I was young, it was very surreal. Watching this now, I am certainly surprised and thankful that so many people made it out alive.
I was 6, I remember this clear as day too.
I’ve never suggested something for a TH-camr to do but you’ve inspired me so that changes today. Could you possibly look into the 1965 South Platte River Flood in Littleton Colorado? It’s not really that known and I don’t even know that much about it, and I live here! It would be awesome if you made a video on it.
Had no clue there was ever a flood in colorado lol
@@jacobfleming565 my point exactly
send him the request via email, hes more responsive there!
I used to live in Colorado and those flash floods are no joke. It can be a calm, sunny day and turn into a flood quickly.
I was wondering if you'd be interested in considering doing a video on the Granville Railway Disaster that took place in Sydney in 1977, they did two inquests afterwards and the things they uncovered in the aftermath would make a good video...
I would love this also! Never heard of it and I live in the western suburbs of Syd
Yes agree ..🤗
There is a good older doco on TH-cam about this. Australian. Watched it a while back. Excellent but was done a few decades ago but good footage. And interviews with survivors etc.
I think I remember hearing about this. I believe they did a short film about, maybe in the late 90s, early 00s?
Agreed, the story of what happened in Granville is perfect for this channel. A family member of mine worked for NSW Police at the time (in admin at headquarters, not as an officer) and said that all of the police they knew who attended were so traumatised by it. They wrote up a lot of the transcripts from officer’s testimony, and said it was one of the worst things they had to do, beaten only by the evidence for Anita Cobby’s murder. I always remember the victims as my train passes that spot.
I had a few weeks of break from watching your vids, so i could do a long marathon. Finally got enough time to watch it all!
I love doing that as well though with content this good it can be difficult!
th-cam.com/video/kesrUO7mdVU/w-d-xo.html
You have more self control than me!
The state and federal government should have been sued. They knew the bridge wasn’t structurally sound and did nothing. They are criminally negligent.
I’m from Minnesota and remember this happening. It was just so terrible. Thank you for the way in which you tell these events. Your research and respect for the incidents are outstanding
I began working in the precast concrete industry, in quality control, right after this occurred. To say government construction as a whole, especially in rust belt states, were shaken up is an understatement.
Shaken as in boom time from all the work coming in for new bridge projects?
shortly after this, as a bridge replacement component in transit, a pretensioned concrete girder snapped in the middle shutting down a road. now where's my bunker blocks...
@@princeofcupspoc9073 no, as in “inspectors became even more anal retentive”
I drove over this bridge 4 to 6 times a day and had traversed it just shortly before it dropped. Had my previous appointment run long, this could be a very different comment... or none at all. There, but for the grace of God, goes I. 🙏
You were lucky, my grandpa had a similar experience in California, though it was the Loma Prieta quake. Left work early which he rarely does. However, if he hadn't, he would have been on the Cypress Freeway when it collapsed.
Ah, you mean the same graceful God who collapsed the bridge, killed 13 and injured 145 people?
That's some final destination shit
Why would you push your luck driving across the same bridge not only every single day but FOUR to SIX times a day!? What the hell did your job entail? Attempting a Guinness world record for most trips across the same bridge in a years worth of time?
Better watch out. Your god missed you that day, but he'll try again. He is a savage and vindictive god after all.
A few years ago in Idaho a freak traffic accident resulted in a major fire under a freeway overpass. Engineers were concerned enough about the damage caused by the fire that the county elected to completely tear down and replace the overpass. It was nice to see infrastructure get the attention it needed for once.
Similar. We had a fuel truck overturn and burn our freeway entrance/exit overpass from the top and a car beneath. The replacement was fast tracked because it’s a main artery for the port. A few miles away, the north span of the river bridge was also replaced in 2006 because it was in danger of collapse.
Oh, we had something similar happen in Ohio a few years back, too. A fuel tanker caught fire beneath one of our major highway bridges (think it was one of the I-70's, but don't quote me on that). The damage was so severe they had to tear down basically that entire section of overpass and rebuild it entirely.
@@alexcurrie4514 I-71/75 and it's a wonder that thing is still standing since it's needed replaced for the longest time
My family missed this by a year and a week or so. We went up and camped in Duluth in 2006. We went up again this year (2023) and took the time to visit the memorial on the way.
Thank you for covering this. Was a kid when it happened and I remember my dad talking about how he could feel the bridge wobbling a day or two on his commute before it collapsed. Good to hear that so many civilians jumped to help, too.
OMG this is one I suggested!! Thank you for doing this in a respectful way. I live in MN, drove over this bridge everyday to and from work, and missed bridge collapse by an hour. It really was eye opening…I’d never given bridges a second thought before this.
With 40 years of this design flaw remaining that means it was missed by generations of inspectors as it waited to just fail. That is fascinating and raises questions of what else in any infrastructure are just waiting there.
On a positive note, these stories do always have one slight salve. Despite all the crookedness, the accidents, the design flaws, the neglect, or malice; there are always those who rush into the fray to help. Something I took to mind when the discussion of over 100 people from all over ran to the scene to help. Believe it was Mr. Rogers who said to "Look for the helpers" in any given story. Least some positive in a world that gives us these kinds of tragedies.
I do remember though that on the radio they were urging normal citizens to stay away from the area out of concern that it would jam traffic up and actually harm the professional rescue and emergency response.
I remember hearing them say the annual inspections only looked at fatigue, stress and condition of the existing design. The design failure was not looked at because the bridge was an approved design. Only after the failure was found did they look at other bridges with the same design and replace them. They replaced the division st bridge over the Mississippi river in St. Cloud Minnesota which has the same design.
Most design flaws can't be seen. The only way to check for them is to have another engineer check the drawings the original engineer put out. Sometime the inspector on site during construction catches a problem but not normally. It costs a lot of money to check those drawings. Loads aren't something you can visually check for unless the structure is about to fail and lots of times not even then.
Fun fact: my stepmom would have probably been on this bridge when it collapsed had it not been for her mother calling and asking to spend the day together with my stepbrother. So my grandma may have inadvertently saved my stepmom's life.
WOW you and everyone else in the comments section.
As someone who works in Minnesota in road construction, this disaster has caused so many changes to our bridges and thoroughness overalls in all aspects of road work
Yea now MN has 2 seasons. Winter and road constructions😂😊😂😊😂😊😂. Thanks for all the work you do.
I remember this day quite clearly.. My family was having a get together. We were at my mothers house (in Wisconsin) and we were waiting for everyone to arrive. My cousin and his wife who lived in the twin cities were the last people we were waiting for. We had gotten a frantic phone call from my cousin who told us the bridge he had crossed had collapsed. He was freaked out and kept telling my family "That could of been us." I'm so grateful he and his wife weren't on the bridge as it collapsed.
For the unlucky people who were trapped and didn't make it, rest in peace..
My cousin was crossing on another bridge right next to this one when it collapsed. She's still traumatized by what she witnessed.
Awww, your poor, poor cousin.
I HOPE SHE'S ALRIGHT.
I’m sure she was.
@@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368 rude
I don't believe you. You are lying so you can get likes
Really incredible video. We just had a full bridge collapse in Pittsburgh a month or two ago. Also, we are the city with the most bridges in the US. This was mildly discomforting to watch. I'll walk more often
I was 8 around the time this was happening, and we were driving my uncle down to the cities for something he needed to do after signing up for the navy. I remember the 4 of us (me, my parents, and him) all being stuck in traffic on the way back, which included sitting at a standstill on the bridge. idk how long we sat on it for, but we eventually got off and made our way home, and it wasn't until we turned on the news 30 minutes later that we found out it collapsed not to long after it did. Those 13 people should of never lost their lives that day.
Thanks for covering this disaster, this is one I will never forget
Should never have*
@@cruisepaige thankyou grammar police, very cool.
@@notsuspiciouschair You are most welcome.
Haha. I know a man who always types “should of” or “would of”. Funny how people substitute a completely different word (for “have” or “should’ve”) because they sound alike. For some reason it bugs me. I guess I have some grammar police in me as well. 😆
i have watched many videos about this incident but it somehow feels new and novel when Fascinating Horror covers it. Thats talent
@FascinatingHorror, you are a treasure of TH-cam. Shining light on incidents in a respectful yet matter of fact manner is beyond commendable. I hope we get to learn from your content for years to come.
I can't imagine the horror you would have felt if you were crossing this bridge just as it was about to collapse.
I drove under that bridge every day on my way to and from work. I stayed late that day and missed the event and heard about it from there.
You’d probably feel a lot better crossing it as it was about to collapse than when it actually did collapse. As one means you were on it when it fell, yours means they got to the other side before it fell
th-cam.com/video/kesrUO7mdVU/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for sharing this, I remember when it happened, it's hard to believe that it's been nearly 15 years since it happened. My sympathies to the victims, their families, and friends. Living in Iowa after growing up in central Minnesota, this was just another bridge that my route occasionally took me over on my trips home, bridge safety and structural integrity something I just took for granted. After the collapse I wondered just how safe these bridges actually were? As tragic as this collapse was, the response of constructing a replacement bridge in the span of only a year or so is also amazing, especially considering Minnesota winters.
Hi! Fairly new subscriber from South Korea here! ^^ I love, love, LOVE how you narrate - you pronounce everything meticulously and in an articulate manner, and make me, who uses English as a second language, understand exactly what you are saying! Thank you so much for this video, like every single one of your videos! ^^
I'd love it if you would cover the Seongsu Bridge (성수대교) Collapse on Oct 21, 1994, in South Korea! ;0 my dad was supposed to be traveling on the bridge that morning to work, but he decided to 'call in sick' and spend time at home with my mom and me (I was just one year old at the time) that day. After the collapse happened, my parents told me we got soooo many frantic phone calls from relatives and friends who knew what route my dad took to work.
You speak English better than a lot of people who use it as their first language. Keep up the good work.
I've been binge watching your videos for the past 3 hours. I love the way when your talking about the fatality and injury numbers the screen goes dark. True respect for the victims
Without the British the USA wouldn't exist, don't you forget that.
I'm a born and raised Minnesotan. No Minnesotan will never forget this moment. Whether you knew someone in the accident or someone who help. I remember being in high school and raised money for the support afterward. There was also a massive construction projects across the state to fix bridges we had 3 or 4 small bridges done in our area. (60mi radius) And I live in a small town surrounded by small towns, just sad it took this to happened to have change. But the seem to alway be how it is... Thanks for your amazing videos... Keep up the great content...
I had a bird's eye view of the I35w bridge right after the collapse. I lived in an apartment building overlooking the bridge, there were tv news crews EVERYWHERE. Lookieloos crowded the parking lot so much they risked collapsing a portion of the upper level. They got so bad that the cops had to put up police tape up. Afterwards the rebuilding of the bridge lasted MONTHS, months of listening to construction crews using a giant hammer to drive pilings into the river bed, months of construction dust wreaking havoc on my asthma. Ended up making money off it though, a news crew wanted some shots of the scene from above and asked me if they could take pictures from our apartment window, I asked for $500 for permission thinking it'd be too expensive for them as a way of saying no without actually saying no. Boy was I surprised when they coughed up the cash!
Yea, 500 was no problem, shoulda added another 0, I woulda even served them tea and cookies at tht point XD
@@rebeccawhite3731 I heard THAT! That's exactly what I thought right after they paid me, oh well at LEAST I got paid! Our fridge was full for a week AND I got a new video game for my Xbox
When they immediately pay the price you were asking, is the EXACT moment you kick yourself in the ass for not asking for more!
@Ann-Marie Paliukenas My comment was about making a bad business decision. Not about profiting off of lost lives.
Had my wife not met me two months prior and moved back home to Kansas in July after her internship, she would have been driving on this bridge about the time it collapsed. Thank God for good timing!!
My nan had second thoughts about catching a plane to somewhere in regional Australia. Sure enough, the plane she was supposed to be on crashed in a town called Winton. I believe my mum also had second thoughts about going to Darwin for Christmas. That day and the day after, cyclone Tracy wiped more than half the entire city off the face of the earth.
These things happen sometimes! I’m glad you had a change of plans!
Wow close call! 😅
My mom was going to see the trade towers on 9/11
She woke up at 5am and they decided not to, and to head home early. They are 3 hours away when the first plane hit
Follow your intuition always!
🙄
Bullshit...you're just trying to attach yourself to a tragedy while at the same time come off as a "knight in shining armor"
I watched this bridge collapse in my rear view mirror. Still makes me panic to think of it. I love the show though
I did not actually see it but I had just went over it and then it collapsed
@@hulahole I heard this loud boom sound that was apparently coming from behind me, as I had just crossed the bridge. I didn't know what it was at first but then I saw it and I was so shocked. I saw the first part drop like a rock and I can't say if I was even driving at that time but when I got myself together I gunned the gas and hit a car in front of me that had stopped..sorry for carrying on. I didn't realize how badly it affected me until watching this video. I shouldn't even feel sorry for myself. Watching the news and seeing the brave people pulling bodies out of the water..those people are heroes.
I was told by my uncle, who did bridge maintenance in the Twin Cities back in the day, to stay off this bridge and a few others in town. He knew they were stressing it and didn't want us to end up on it when it collapsed.
My dad drove over that bridge three minutes before it collapsed. He said there were MNDOT crews jackhammering on it and the bridge was noticeably wobbling.
Several engineering schools throughout Minnesota forge rings from the old bridge’s steel trusses (an albeit, morbid way) to ensure they always remember the importance of sound structural design.
Minnesota native here, I was 12 at the time this happened and I remember sitting downstairs in the basement watching TV when my dad came rushing down and asked me if I wanted to see something scary. I thought at that moment he was kidding till he showed me what was on the news, that was definitely a day we minnesotans dont forget easily.
As a Minnesotan, I still clearly remember this event... it was horrifying to watch and hear about. Since my dad worked in St Cloud, I was worried that he might use the bridge. He didn't use it, as that's not on the way home. We use the new bridge occasionally and honestly it still kind of scares me to go on it, even though I know it's been completely rebuilt with higher safety standards.
Here in Memphis, one of the busiest bridges in the country, the Hernando De Soto Bridge between Tennessee and Arkansas, was shut down because of a massive crack last year. Eventually it came out that the crack had been there since at least 2016, and inspectors were skipping required inspections. When I think of the fact that the Silver Bridge collapse in West Virginia in 1968 killed almost fifty people, and that was a much smaller bridge, and the flaw in THAT collapse was caused by a 0.1 inch flaw in a bearing, I get cold all over. I think we came really close to something extremely tragic happening in Memphis. It sucks when you can't trust regulators and business to keep you safe.
The best disaster documentary channel on YT!
This was, and still is, one of the most horrifying days of my life, and it's stayed with me every single time I've gone over a bridge since. I appreciate the care and respect that you brought to this video as you always do with every topic you cover
Crazy to actually see something that happened locally on your channel. I drove over this exact bridge (as I did every day to/from work at the time) about 3 hours before it collapsed. Crazy times
"Deficient within tolerable limits"
Just what you want to hear about a bridge catering to 140,000 vehicles per day 🙄
The irony is that it was an accurate assessment, as none of the (known) deficiencies contributed to the collapse.
It's scary to think there are roughly 100,000 structures nation wide that are categorized as deficient. How many bridges are there even in total? How hard is it to find a bridge that is not "deficient within tolerable limits"?
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@@renerpho There is simply too much road infrastructure in the US for there to ever be enough funds to fix everything. Before building all this stuff, the leaders should have pondered the astronomical cost of maintaining it all.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking - Ryanair would like to assure you that this plane is deficient within tolerable limits. We wish you a pleasant flight."
@@monsterfurby Airplanes literally have lists of failures that are permitted, and failures that ground the aircraft. Like… engine failure? Grounded. Failure of a sensor that has triple redundancy? Allowed - but not for transoceanic. (Theoretical examples. The minimum equipment varies by aircraft type.) Just like your car doesn’t become undrivable when the Check Engine light comes on, many failures (or deficiencies) are not serious enough to warrant servicing immediately, and can wait till the airplane goes in for servicing.
This hits close to home, I live around Minneapolis and I remember vividly when it happened. I was super young, but it was still a core memory for me. Thanks for the great content as always 🙌
I saw interviews of survivors in that show “I survived”. Truly a terrifying experience.
I live here and watched this story develop in real-time on the local TV stations, starting with a news program that broke in to say "We're getting reports of a bridge collapse on I-35W"... Had this happened only an hour earlier, during end-of-workday "rush hour", that bridge would have been bumper-to-bumper traffic it's entire length. The fact that *only* 13 people died is a small miracle in itself, though that's no comfort to those who lost loved ones that day. :(
We in PA have a heavily traveled bridge with the same type of bridge. Many vehicles 'sit' on the bridge every morning and evening. My husband will no longer drive over it if he can avoid it. And we just had a bridge collapse here. Our bridges are in horrible shape yet still open.
Which bridge collapsed? I remember hearing something about one but i cant remember where in pa it was.
I know the one over the susquehanna wasnt technically a collapse cuz of the ice build up hears ago but i know that one is talked about constantly
@@konoyumekara --- the Frick Park bridge collapsed around the end of January of this year. Ironically Biden was here to discuss 'infrastructure" that very day and came to the collapsed site. Now the bridges in Pittsburgh are being 'reviewed' and some are being shut down. Amazing how that happens.
I live in Pittsburgh.
Our bridges are in awful condition.
Turns out Democrats don't like to fix things.
I too live in Pittsburgh
This happened while I was on a road trip in another part of the country with my grandma who is terrified of bridges to begin with. It was on the news constantly so there was no avoiding it and as you can imagine, it freaked my grandma out even more about all bridges. Every time we had to go over one, she would close her eyes, plug her ears, and just say “bridge, bridge, bridge, bridge” the entire time we crossed… I was only like 9 at the time, but I will never forget it. It made my mom, who was driving, very annoyed, especially because there were a lot of bridges we had to cross on this trip.
can i just say i super appreciate your closed captions!!
Yeah, the memory of this one never really disappears, at least for me. I don't go into Minneapolis much, but crossing over the new bridge always hits me with an eerie feeling. My brother in law had crossed over the bridge about 5-10 minutes before the collapse too. I learned some new details here as to what went wrong though, so thank you for covering it. I think these finer details got a bit drowned out by the narrative that the bridge was just old and needed maintenance that the government wasn't willing to fund (at least from what I remember, I was just out of high school at the time).
I lived next to the bridge, was a first responder, and triaged many victims at the U of M hospital. That day still haunts me and just going over a bridge causes me anxiety.
72,500 U.S. bridges are rated deficient?! I had to rewind to make sure I heard that correctly. Wow, that's a scary thought. I guess with the explosion of bridge construction, maybe they were working too fast? Time constraints, and money of course, can have a lot of bad effect on construction.
It sounds more that the "deficient" rating is designed to apply to every bridge, so as to create pressure and sponsor corporations that do maintenance. Kind of the same way like there had to be a terrible p*ndemic to fill the pockets of the pharma giants.
The deficient rating it not a result of design. It's a result of deterioration over time, combined with increased traffic.
Actually, the bridges were probably just fine when they were built, but some of them are coming up on 100 years old. This is far past the design life, but there is no longer as strong an emphasis on infrastructure as compared to say the 1920s-1970s. I was a field engineer on a small bridge replacement a few years ago, and the original concrete was crumbling badly. I kicked one of the abutment wingwalls and a large section fell into the river below. This was an 80yo bridge on a state highway that was open to semis just the day previous. They are being replaced as fast as possible, but the deferred maintenance of the past 30+years is really catching up.
And that number of 70,000+ bridges isn't some figure that was formulated yesterday. That number has been married to every single bridge collapse over the last decade at least. Of course that's probably attributed to a public that becomes too "comfortable" when public scares are at their annual lows
The United States has more money than they could ever use on bridges, they just prefer to spend about 60% of it on the military industrial complex, it's really awesome and worth it!!
I lived in Minneapolis at the time, and my father was commuting home from work at the time of the collapse; fortunately he had been working late, so even though the bridge was on his route he wasn't caught in it. Took him hours to get home, though, because they had to reroute thousands of cars onto bridges that weren't designed to accommodate that much traffic.
I was in Minnesota when this happened and had travelled over that bridge on my way to my grandparents in Backus. When we got to my grandparents, they talked about the bridge we had been on just a few hours earlier.
That's what every second comment is to this video.
"As a Minnesota resident..." OR
"I was travelling over this piece of shit bridge five minutes before it collapsed..."
WOW
I had not seen the photo of the crushed bakery truck before. Terrific video as always. No glamorizing of events or overblown narrative . I love your vids.
That you for do this video and doing it so respectfully.
I’ve lived in Minneapolis my whole life and this collapse really shook us all to our core. There are still some who won’t drive on the new 35-W bridge.
As an Ironworker, I spotted that gusset plate instantly. It's amazing something so simple can be so catastrophic.
Brilliant work as always. Another issue that clearly went ignored for far too long at great cost to the lives of civilians.
its so annoying; there could be 50 bridges built like this one, and then only this one ends up collapsing, a whole bunch of new regulations are made and some of those regulations are a little heavy handed because of emotional response to the disaster
Then people look at regulations and say "this stuff is pointless!" because they didnt see all the decision making and thinking that went into the creation of the regulation
th-cam.com/video/kesrUO7mdVU/w-d-xo.html
My son was born a little over a week before this happened. Even though I'm a "local" I didn't travel this route regularly, but I had a ton of friends and family contact me to see if I was OK. Tragic events and this is now the 15th anniversary.
Love your show! Crossed 35W bridge 20 minutes earlier and I am so thankful I decided to leave early that day. God bless all!!!
I lived in Minneapolis when this happened. 35w was on my direct route to and from work. I was supposed to get off at 6pm. If I had gotten out on time, I would have been around or on the bridge when it collapsed at 6:05. However, I got a call an hour earlier, asking me to stay late. That call saved me.
I remember a bunch of stories came out of the collapse, including a child who was rescued from an abusive family, because the bruises on their body didn’t match what happened. A bus driver saved an entire bus full of school children. He was lauded as national hero, and refused to shake George bush’s hand (which made him even cooler imo).
I also remember a local bridge skyrocketing from 200th place to be repaired, to a number top priority, because one of the columns had moved 45” from where it originally was.
We definitely need more infrastructure. And there is money, but US politicians care more about bloated military funding than they do about public safety
It's really scary to think that the one bridge failed with the breakage of the one plate; showing pretty much every piece is important (and the bridge would likely fail that catastrophically with ANY kind of piece breaking). That one piece is just too thin, too weak, and with a little extra weight, the whole thing tumbles.
It wasn't just a single gusset plate, all of them were the same inadequate thickness.
In 2012 I was working at a nearby theatre on internship. My bus stop was very close to the memorial, and I also noticed the debris and columns that are still there in the river. For some reason it didn’t click until just now how recent the collapse was, and how I crossed the new bridge - like thousands of other people - twice a day.
I can't believe it's been this long since it happened! I lived 20 minutes away from that bridge for 27 years, and used it occasionally. Several members of my family regularly commuted across it for work, doctor's appointments, events, etc. At any time, the bridge could have failed and any twin cities resident could have been one of the people on the bridge - terrifying to think about. I'm again moved by the quick response of volunteers and rescue services to help people. I don't think any Minnesotan who was around for this will ever forget it.
Well done! I have not heard this story before. Very entertaining sir
While I've never lived in Minnesota, I-35 has a special place in my heart. To think that a bridge located on a high-traffic interstate highway could just fall into a river like that is both ridiculous and terrifying.
Absolutely appalling incompetence which seems to be the running theme among most incidents covered here, I am actually surprised and glad there were so few fatal victims from a collapse of such magnitude. Thanks for the video, superb work as usual.
I'm not sure "incompetence" is really the right word, here. Yes, they missed the mistake, which was, as said in the video, in plain sight. But they were looking for structural issues related to use and age, not design. This is a problem that should have been caught in the design review phase; people assumed that, having passed that review, the design was sufficient.
th-cam.com/video/kesrUO7mdVU/w-d-xo.html
@@Coygon The one’s I am more angry about, are the one’s where they ignore the the known problem that leads to the accident. Honestly the way they were treating the reports sounds like this bridge would have collapsed from something else even if they had caught this structural flaw.
Random bad luck when everything else was done perfectly is quite rare. Stuff is generally safe when it's maintained which is why most disasters show a lack of that
nice! as a Minnesota native, I have been waiting for this episode. Wonderful job!
Even to this day, running under the new one just seems really eerie.
I hold my breath driving over it. Which isn't going to help if something happens but it makes me feel better I guess.
Down a little south in the Chicago suburbs (ok more than a little south I suppose hah) we had an overpass apparently owned by Union Pacific collapse probably 10 years ago now that killed a couple in their car, so they end up building a new one same spot its already rusting which no idea how normal that is structural engineer I ain’t haha, but I swear there are some big ol cracks showing, plus very busy intersection right by a school so gets backed up to where you’re stuck underneath it at red lights all the time 🙃
@@supermoneyball420 if you see cracks and rust report this. It most likely won't do anything but it's worth it. Also don't use it. You shouldn't see visible cracks
That is going to fall again
I always appreciate the details about the civilian and first-responder reactions to these disasters. Thank you for including them!
Thank you for posting this. I grew up right next door both my parents worked in medical care and my mom had that night off but my dad was called to that scene. I was a little kid and barley remember that night. Last year I got taught by the man who coordinated the 911 response of the incident. Great man.
Am I remember seeing a security camera video on TV that showed this bridge falling. I've always imagined that's more than likely the image you would have seen if you had witnessed the Silver Bridge collapsing.
It’s in this video!
I love when they say funding was needed to repair the bridge. What the hell is the point of paying taxes?
The point. Ask Americans who are always voting to have their taxes cut. Less money means less money no matter how you cut it.
@@andyrob3259 no, it’s because the government spends our money on other nonsense instead of roads and bridges
@@kuma1388 They gotta have that new stadium every 5 years and that "beautification" of the downtown area redone every 3 years.
Funding the military and prison complex.
@@LollipopLozzy454545 bingo. And the rest is to line their pockets
Could you do a video on the collapse of the first Tay Bridge? I know there's already several TH-cam videos on this subject, but I'd appreciate your clear and detailed account.
Tay Bridge was also the code name for the funeral proceedings of the Queen Mother. Later used as a model for the funeral of Princess Diana.
Best way to get him to cover something is by emailing him. The TH-cam comment not deletes my comment if I put in his email, though.
I was 8 when this happened, and living in the suburbs of Minneapolis. I remember being at my dad’s office with my mom and hearing about it in the radio. I was scared shitless driving over bridges for years afterwards. Now I drive over the new 35W bridge fairly often for work, and I think about this tragedy every time.
I lived in Wisconsin at the time this happened, but my family was driving through Minneapolis to get to my grandparents house when this happened. We got there and my grandma was so worried about all of us (my mom didn't have a cell phone so she didn't know what happened). We didn't drive across that bridge that day but I still get startled by the fact that if my mom drove a different way through the cities, I might have been on that bridge.