The now infamous event -
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (official designator Bridge 9340), which opened in 1967, was an eight-lane, 1,900-foot (579 m) steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in east Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The bridge, maintained by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT), was Minnesota's second busiest, carrying 141,000 vehicles daily.
During the weekday evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, the bridge collapsed from abutment to abutment, falling into the river and onto its banks. As of August 3, 2007, 6 deaths were attributed to the collapse.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_BridgeBridge Collapses, Plunging Traffic into Mississippi
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12438498Repairs Vital for Aging U.S. Infrastructure
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12503670Weekend Edition Saturday, August 4, 2007 ยท More than 75,000 bridges nationwide are rated structurally deficient, which doesn't mean they are in danger of collapsing. Fixing them would cost billions. Joel Schwieterman, professor of public services management at DePaul University, speaks with Scott Simon.
Early indications are that the collapse started on the bridge's south side, an important clue in determining why the structure failed.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12503667
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