By Craig Wilkins

Resources to support recovery from the Aug.1 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis poured into the state while efforts to replace the fallen span and ensure the safety of others continue to solidify.

“The focus of the multi-agency effort is on recovery until all the missing are accounted for,” said Bob McFarlin, assistant to the commissioner for policy and public affairs. “This is a slow, deliberate and respectful process.”

Navy dive crews began working 2 a.m. on Aug. 6, joining the recovery efforts started by state and local agencies immediately after the collapse. In addition, the FBI deployed a submersible search vehicle equipped with cameras, high-intensity lights and a grab arm in the effort as well.

Mn/DOT has contracted with Carl Bolander and Sons of St. Paul to begin debris removal as soon as Hennepin County concludes its recovery operation for those who perished in the collapse.

“Things are going about as well as they can,” said Terry Zoller, Metro District construction engineer who leads the recovery effort. “Right now we’re on hold until we get the go-ahead from Hennepin County.”

Zoller said that once debris removal begins, it will be a slow, tedious process.

“We’ll be taking out pieces very methodically, not just tossing them on a barge,” he said.

Experts in the field of bridge and other structural failures will use the recovered pieces and other data in their analyses to identify the causes of the I-35W bridge collapse.

Statewide bridge inspections

Mn/DOT bridge inspection crews have been working intensely since the bridge fell to ensure the safety of other steel deck truss bridges. The department’s effort comes in response to a directive from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters that all states inspect similar bridges for possible weaknesses or other problems.

The other steel deck truss bridges in Minnesota that have been inspected in the last few days are Hwy 23 over the Mississippi River in St. Cloud, Hwy 123 over the Kettle River in Sandstone, Hwy 243 over the St. Croix River to Osceola, Wisc., the First Street South bridge in Sauk Rapids and the Gooseberry Falls Bridge on Hwy 61 north of Duluth.

Metro District inspector hurt during bridge collapse

Bob Rucker, a pavement inspector assigned to the Mendota Heights resident office, suffered multiple injuries from the bridge collapse.

Eric Embacher, resident engineer at Mendota Heights, said Rucker was checking the rehabilitation work being performed mid-span on the bridge.

Rucker fell several feet, eventually landing on a fallen deck section with the wheels of a semitrailer dangling above him.

Rucker suffered several broken ribs, bruises and contusions. He is now recovering at home following his release from the hospital on Aug. 7.

Fellow inspectors Rae Tressler and Harvey Unruh were at the bridge site but clear of the structure when it failed, Embacher said.  

Measures under way to keep traffic moving following the bridge’s fall

Mn/DOT is working closely with several other agencies to relieve traffic congestion caused by the bridge collapse.

Amr Jabr, Metro District traffic engineer, said planned measures (known as traffic restoration projects) include adding lane capacity to sections of Hwy 100 and I-94. The measures also include adding capacity to the following ramps: northbound Hwy 100 to eastbound I-694, northbound Hwy 280 to eastbound I-35W EB, and eastbound I-94 to northbound Hwy 280.

Jabr said Metro District and other Mn/DOT staff continue to plan traffic changes with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the State Patrol, Hennepin County, Metro Transit and the University of Minnesota.

Metro Transit, he said, has added more buses and turned shoulders on I-694 into bus-only lanes between I-35 and the East River Road . It may also increase its number of park-and-ride facilities.

Traffic on the major Twin Cities routes has been lighter than expected so far, Jabr said, but demand started to increase with the start of the work week on Aug. 6.

“We’ve done better than we expected managing traffic until now,” Jabr said, “but traffic patterns are not settled because people are still exploring new routes for commuting and other travel.”

For traffic and detour information, visit www.511mn.org and www.mndot.gov.

State Emergency Operations Center activated after the bridge collapse

Mn/DOT joined other state departments, volunteer agencies and the Minnesota National Guard to start operation of the state Emergency Operations Center in St. Paul within hours of the bridge collapse.

The SEOC facilitated inter-agency communications and operations at the St. Paul location until a joint public information center near the bridge site was established Aug. 6 at the University of Minnesota’s West Bank campus in Minneapolis. Mn/DOT and other agencies provide communications people to staff the JIC.

An incident command center was established on the 10th Avenue bridge; the Minneapolis Fire Department directs its operation.

There are about 75 fire fighting and 75 law enforcement units on scene, including collapsed structure rescue and dive teams. The State Patrol manages law enforcement resources and activities from outside the city of Minneapolis.

Metro District names staff to manage I-35W replacement efforts

Khani Sahebjam, Metro District engineer, announced staff reassignments to facilitate building a replacement for the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.

Jon Chiglo, Metro District, was appointed as the project manager for the I-35W bridge project. He previously served as manager of the Hwy 212 rebuilding project.

His staff will include Terry Ward, ROC 52 project manager/Hwy 52 Oronoco construction manager; Kevin Western, state bridge design engineer; Kevin Anderson, a Metro District administrative engineer, and many others. The team will be temporarily located at the Metro District headquarters in Roseville until a permanent office location is determined.

Chiglo can be reached at 651/775-8778.  

Charles Cadenhead was named as acting Hwy 212 project manager and will assume Chiglo’s responsibilities until further notice.

By Donna Lindberg

President Bush signed legislation on Aug. 6 providing $250 million in emergency relief funding for reconstruction of the Interstate 35W bridge.

“The $250 million is an authorization of funding, meaning it must still be appropriated by Congress, which will probably not happen until September or October,” said Brad Larsen, federal relations manager.

In addition to the $250 million, the bill authorizes up to $5 million for mass transit operations and traveler information services associated with the bridge collapse. And the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration have allocated an additional $5 million in emergency relief funding. This funding requires no congressional authorization or appropriation and is available immediately. Congress could also authorize additional funding in the future if needed.

All federal highway funding works on a reimbursable basis, meaning the state first pays and then requests reimbursement.

“Mn/DOT’s Office of Finance and the Federal Highway Administration are working to resolve the cash flow issues associated with this effort,” said Lisa Freese, deputy commissioner. “Until we know the true cost of building the structure, it will be difficult to determine the effect this will have on our highway program. If there are impacts, however, they are expected to be temporary.”

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is expected to call a special session of the legislature sometime after Labor Day to talk about transportation funding options for Minnesota.

Nationally, CQ Today Midday Update reported on Aug. 7 that federal l awmakers are moving towards addressing the nation’s infrastructure problems. On Aug. 2, the U.S. Senate passed a bill establishing a commission to study the state of American infrastructure. In addition, U.S. Rep. James Oberstar from Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District has scheduled a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing for Sept. 5 about structurally deficient bridges nationwide.

By Nick Carpenter

For one hour on Thursday evening, Aug. 2, Mn/DOT’s Web site reached its limit for simultaneous connections, causing the server to go down and making it impossible to access the site.

The site became unavailable at approximately 7:30 p.m. and came back online at 8:35 p.m. —thanks to the efforts of the Data and Applications Infrastructure Unit. Jacob Erickson, information technology specialist 2, immediately investigated the issue and ultimately “saved the day,” according to his supervisor, Lynn Verhaal.

The problem was caused by the log files that are generated each time a user gets a new page. Eventually they became too large for the server to handle, causing the server to go down.

“We have never experienced Web traffic of such magnitude so we were unaware of the log file size limitation,” Verhaal said. “We now have procedures in place to prevent reoccurrence in the future.”

Web server data for Thursday, Aug. 2:

• 17,202,226 hits
• 5,333,803 pages served
• 116,599 visits
• 239.70 gigabytes of bandwidth used

Web server data for typical Thursday in July

• 3,285,673 hits
• 976,292 pages served
• 15,114 visits
• 29.97 gigabytes of bandwidth used

By Lisa Yang

After the Interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge collapsed on Aug. 1, Mn/DOT employees have experienced varied reactions to the event, but most automatically have kicked right back into work, either at the accident site or at their offices.

“Feelings are often delayed,” said DeLorah Curry, team leader of Mn/DOT’s Critical Stress Management Team. “People will be needing support down the road in three or four weeks, or three or four months.”

The usual reaction at first is shock, Curry said. Other common physical and emotional responses to traumatic events are fatigue, appetite changes, headaches, anger, anxiety or irritability. Some effects on productivity are inability to concentrate, lapses of memory and tendency to overwork.

To help employees, Curry said that people in leadership need to be present and check in with their people. They need to use empathetic statements.

“They don’t have to fix or make things go away, but empathetic statements go a long way,” Curry said. “Also, little things like providing water and food and showing genuine recognition and support also help.”

They also need to offer their employees resources and be flexible during this time.

The state Employee Assistance Program is generally the first contact for employees. The EAP provides free and confidential services to all state employees and their families 24 hours a day at 1-800/657-3719. Managers and supervisors also may contact Curry at 651/366-3415.              

If an employee is approached by someone who makes them feel uncomfortable or receives a disturbing letter, e-mail or call, they should talk to their supervisor or another supervisor immediately. If threatened, call Capitol Security in Central Office at 651/296-6741 or the local police.  

By Lisa Freese, deputy commissioner

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this message from Deputy Commissioner Lisa Freese was sent via GroupWise to Mn/DOT employees on Aug. 6.

Like you, I am very deeply saddened by the loss of life and the impact on families that have resulted from last Wednesday’s collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge.

During the past week, I've been proud of how the whole department has rallied behind the Bridge Office and Metro District staff to provide support and do what had to be done in response to this disaster. This is only the beginning of the work ahead. We are sorting through the needs and will be asking every office and district for assistance in some way.

Meanwhile, we must continue our existing operations. Even those whose jobs are not impacted directly by the collapse need to know that your work is very important during the critical next few months.

I know you have many questions about what caused the bridge collapse. The National Transportation Safety Board and an independent consultant are conducting a thorough investigation of the event. Until this investigative work is complete, I ask you not to speculate about possible causes. Anything you say, even to family or neighbors, may be taken as absolute fact and could affect the public’s trust in our agency. You will be kept informed as soon as we learn more.

Mn/DOT has held daily media briefings since Wednesday evening. Information about removal of debris from the river was announced yesterday. Mn/DOT and its contractor, Carl Bolander and Sons, will begin this effort this week. This work will be done as quickly as possibly while ensuring we are also supporting ongoing recovery efforts at the site. We must do everything we can to be sensitive to the families of those still missing.

Mn/DOT has acted quickly to accommodate the I-35W traffic that was disrupted by the bridge collapse. We have a highly trained traffic management force in our Regional Transportation Management Center and our Metro District. We have very good tools on the Metro freeway system to manage the traffic flow. Many decisions will be made over the next few weeks that will result in changes on the system that will allow other routes to handle more traffic.  

Check out the Mn/DOT Web site at www.mndot.gov for a wide array of bridge information.   These include notes from the daily media briefings and traffic detour details.

Finally, I want to say that you are some of the best people in the business and I have seen proof of it over the last few days. Mn/DOT has already been recognized nationally and internationally for the exemplary way we have responded to this disaster. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, but you have all responded with bravery, determination and heart. Thank you for all you’ve done!