I was standing at the front desk of Midway books, purchasing an August Sander monograph and a couple of books by William Dean Howells. “The 35w bridge has collapsed,” a worker announced from the back. I drove straight home.
The reporters were comparing the footage to the freeway collapses after the Northridge earthquake; that seems pretty close. It’s a mess down there. I had to go back out to Target #1 to grab a few groceries; there was a pick-up out front with a policeman loading up water and ice-chests. There isn’t much information yet. The local media helicopter left the scene right away to allow the rescue helicopters in, that seemed like a good thing. Another media crash wouldn’t be good.
There are so many stories down there; several hospitals are in close proximity, as are multiple civil agencies. But it’s mostly the people who live here, carrying people out and helping however they can. I had filed a story from Wired about emergency response in Texas being farmed out to corporations a while ago; I’m glad that local government still exists up here and seems to be responding to people in their time of need.
Listening to the national media take off with the story I feel compelled to make a couple of observations: Not everyone in Minneapolis/St. Paul uses that damn bridge. I’ve been avoiding it for months due to the construction, and there are many, many, alternate routes. It’s not the end of the world—it’s the unfortunate collapse of a bridge. People around here will adapt. It hardly merits the Katrina-level reportage that seems to be gearing up.
Watching the crawl on CNN— 35W is the major artery between Minneapolis and St. Paul? Buy a map! I-94 is the freeway connecting the Twin Cities; 35E passes through St. Paul, not 35W. The inaccuracies reported by those “familiar with the area” are more than a little annoying; a ten-year-old with access to Google maps could do better.
