I-35W Mississippi River Bridge Collapse and the G/P Phenomenon

About 6:05 p.m. central daylight time on Wednesday, August 1, 07, the eight-lane, 1,907-foot-long I-35W Highway Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, experienced a catastrophic failure in the main span of the deck truss. As a result, 1,000 feet of the deck truss collapsed, with about 456 feet of the main span falling 108 feet into the 15-foot-deep river. A total of 111 vehicles were on the portion of the bridge that collapsed. Of these, 17 were recovered from the water. As a result of the bridge collapse, 13 people died, and 145 people were injured. On the day of the collapse, roadway work was underway on the I-35W Bridge, and four of the eight travel lanes (two outside lanes northbound and two inside lanes southbound) were closed to traffic. In the early afternoon, construction equipment and construction aggregates (sand and gravel for making concrete) were delivered and positioned in the two closed inside southbound lanes. The equipment and aggregates, which were being staged for a concrete pour of the southbound lanes that was to begin about 7:00 p.m., were positioned toward the south end of the center section of the deck truss portion of the bridge and were in place by about 2:30 p.m. About 6:05 p.m., a motion-activated surveillance video camera at the Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, just west of the I-35W Bridge, recorded a portion of the collapse sequence. The video showed the bridge center span separating from the rest of the bridge and falling into the river." ²
Martin P. Burke Jr., PE

This is a premium article available exclusively for our subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, please Login

If not, subscribe now and get access to well researched articles & reports on infrastructure construction, equipment & machinery, innovations & technology, project reports, case studies, and more. All this by simply paying just ₹200/- for a month of complete portal access, or a discounted rate of ₹1000/- for a full year of access.

Subscribe for a Month @₹200/-

Subscribe for a Year @₹1000/-

NBM&CW September 2011

Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicle (RPAV) Based Bridge Monitoring

Dr. Naveet Kaur, Senior Scientist, Bridge Engineering & Structures Division, CSIR-CRRI, New Delhi, shares information on the various types of applications of RPAV technology in BHM, including visual inspection, non-destructive testing, and structural health

I-35W Mississippi River Bridge Collapse and the G/P Phenomenon

Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicle (RPAV) Based Bridge Monitoring

Prestressing Concepts, Systems & Technologies in Bridges

Structural Integrity Assessment of Submerged Bridges Using Robotic Inspection and Scour Survey

Structural Retrofitting of Chitpore Bridge

Design Concept of Iconic Pedestrian Bridges - Atal, Sambhaji, and Deccan

Construction of Balason Bridge in Darjeeling District @ West Bengal - An Engineering Feat

Dextra supplies Mechanical Rebar Couplers and Post-Tensioning Bar Systems to new Zuari Bridge in Goa

Construction Industry - Progressing Towards A ‘Digital’ Future

NHAI invites bids ₹244-cr six-lane flyover & two-lane ROB in Odisha

Synergising Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Operational Preparedness: Launch of Indigenous Modular Bridge in Sikkim

Architectural System for Arch Bridges

Load Testing of Various Types of Bridge Superstructures

Innovative Steel Plate Girders With Corrugated Webs

My Tryst with the National Namaste Signature Bridge

Construction of Foundation & Sub-Structure of Bogibeel Rail-Cum Road Bridge Over River Brahmaputra- An Engineering Marvel

Construction of World’s Tallest Rail Bridge in India

Construction of New Brahmaputra Bridge & Road Works Near Tezpur - An Insight...

Slope erosion protection of bridge approach embankment

Art & Science of Bridge Engineering - A World Scenario

Dhola Sadiya - India's Longest River Bridge

NBM&CW

Concrete Construction

MGS Architecture

L&ST

II&TW