Search for the 35W Bridge

A fine day arrived in Minnesota after a long string of cloudy and rain. I haven't been on a bike ride in a while and I wanted to get a good view of the collapsed 35W bridge. It has been hard to get even a distant view until the last few days and I suspected that there would be some better vantage points available today. I'm not sure why I wanted to see the wreckage for myself, but I found that I wasn't the only one with the same impulse.

I decided to cross the Lake Street Bridge to Minneapolis and go up the West River Road until I could get close enough to see what was happening at the wreckage. I made it to the sign that told me the road was closed - somewhere north of Franklin Avenue - and went inland a while to the West Bank campus of the U of Mn. I rode along Washington Avenue and managed to get right next to 35W about a quarter of a mile from the bridge. There was no traffic on the three or four lanes leading to the river. There also was no view of the bridge. After more roaming around, no view seemed possible on the downtown side so I decided to bike home and try the east bank later on. It was a 17 mile round trip, so, given my questionable biking condition, I opted to drive to the Cedar Avenue Btridge by the U of Mn and drive across. However it was closed so I parked on 8th Avenue near University and walked. I found some places to see some of the bridge, but the yellow caution tape is everywhere and the viewing is not too easy. Or satisfying. This one is on University on the bridge over 35W looking towards downtown.


This is on Second Street, south of University where it is possible to get fairly close to the bridge approach. The concrete on the standing parcel in the photo wasn't injured in the collapse, it's just old and starting to crumble. This is near where some people have conjectured that the collapse began.


This is at the end of Main Street, the parallel street closest to the River. The bridge area is fenced off and there are men working inside the fence. There are also memorials hung on the fence to the unlucky 13 who were killed here.


I also had a stroll on the Stone Arch Bridge. There are some parts of the bridge in sight, but it's a fair distance from the bridge and the details are not easy to make out. There were a lot of people with cameras and people just looking at the scene, trying to take in its meaning. It's been over three weeks since the tragedy and it is still hard to find a place to take it all in.