Mothman, Silver Bridge Remembered After 35W Bridge Collapse

The internet is a hive of activity following the sudden collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis on Wed evening.

Blogs

There’s a good personal account of the disaster at the Blanked-Out blog – “35W just came down right in front of my house.” The author describes seeing the bridge collapse in slow motion, and hundreds of volunteers on the ground coming to the riverbank to help.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia already has a host of information on the collapse, including the best summary so far of the history and construction of the bridge, and the possible causes of its collapse. Wikipedia notes that a 2001 report found several weaknesses in the bridge’s steel trusses, and that the bridge design had no redundancy.

Wikipedia’s page has been a hive of activity in the last few hours. It’s been subject to more than 500 edits. It includes pictures of the bridge before the collapse, maps of the area and alternative routes – most of it clearly sourced.

Mainstream News

The New York Times has good, solid coverage, including a piece about the U.S.’s ageing infrastructure. The Minneapolis local papers (TwinCities.com and Star Tribune) have lots of coverage, including news that the Army is to lower the Mississippi to aid the recovery.

Flickr

Flickr has been a hive of activity -- there are about 1,250 pictures of the collapse from people on the scene. The earlier pictures are the most dramatic.

YouTube

Most of the video on YouTube are clips from TV news reports. Here’s the now widely-broadcast clip from a security camera showing the collapse of the main section.

Mothman

The bridge collapse in reminded a lot of people of the 2002 Richard Gere movie, The Mothman Prophecies, a paranormal thriller based on the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in West Virginia, which killed 46 people. Legend has it that the disaster was foretold by the appearance of a human moth – the Mothman.

Mothman Silver Bridge 35W
Mothman Silver Bridge 35W