I-35W Mississippi River bridge
I-35W Mississippi River bridge | |
|---|---|
Bridge 9340 in May 2006, one year prior to collapse | |
| Coordinates | 44°58′44″N 93°14′42″W / 44.97889°N 93.24500°W |
| Carried | 8 lanes of I-35W |
| Crossed | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Official name | Bridge 9340 |
| Maintained by | Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) |
| ID number | 9340 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Continuous truss bridge |
| Total length | 1,907 ft (581.3 m) |
| Width | 113.3 ft (34.5 m) |
| Height | 115 ft (35.1 m) |
| Longest span | 456 ft (139 m) |
| Clearance below | 64 ft (19.5 m) |
| History | |
| Construction start | 1964 |
| Opened | November 1967 |
| Collapsed | August 1, 2007 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 140,000 |
| Location | |
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The bridge opened in 1967, and was Minnesota's third busiest, carrying 140,000 vehicles daily. After only 39 years in service, it experienced a catastrophic failure during the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited a design flaw as the likely cause of the collapse, noting that an excessively thin gusset plate ripped along a line of rivets. Additional weight on the bridge at the time of failure was also cited by the NTSB as a contributing factor.
Help came immediately from mutual aid in the seven-county Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and emergency response personnel, charities, and volunteers. Within a few days of the collapse, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) planned its replacement with the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge. The construction of the replacement bridge was completed quickly, and the new bridge officially opened on September 18, 2008.