Andrea Benedict's Profile

Sample Avatar

Author's Entries

Crossing The Bridge: A Local Perspective on The Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

by Andrea Benedict
USA

In these past few days since the sudden collapse of the I-35W bridge, the citizens in Minneapolis, Minnesota have experienced panic, shock and perhaps most of all, anger. The yet-to-be-determined death toll hangs like an eerie cloud over our city. Right now, patience is running thin, very thin.


Earlier photo of the I-35W bridge. Photograph by Dan Schultz

As we individually and collectively try to find meaning in this event, there are still so many unanswered questions.

When this eight-lane, 1,900-foot (579 m), heavily-trafficked bridge over the Mississippi River went down, luckily, I was still at work. Normally, I wouldn’t have said being stuck at work made me feel lucky, but mundane hold-ups saved a lot of people from being on the bridge at that time.