Low death toll from bridge collapse a ‘miracle’

Published Saturday, August 4, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - More than 100 cars and trucks and a school bus crawling bumper-to-bumper on a bridge that suddenly crashes into the Mississippi River seemed like a recipe for a massive death count.

But yesterday came what this city’s fire chief called a miraculous turn of events: the prospect that relatively few lives were lost.

Divers still searched through the swirling, muddy currents for cars and bodies. However, the death toll remained at five from Wednesday’s collapse, and officials cast doubt on an earlier estimate that as many as 30 people were missing. They said it could be as few as eight.

Of the roughly 100 injured, 28 remain hospitalized and only five were critical.

"We were surprised that we didn’t have more people seriously injured and killed," Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack told The Associated Press. "I think it was something of a miracle."

Clack cited a list of reasons: a bridge design that minimized falling debris, a quick response by rescue crews and the rush-hour crawl that gave vehicles little momentum to plunge into the river.

In addition, experts said the speed and depth of the water in the Mississippi River were much lower than normal on the day of the collapse - largely the result of a drought. That might have made it easier for people to escape the disaster.

"It’s a horrible, tragic event, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse," said Kent Harries, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Engineering.

Minnesota officials said they don’t yet know how many cars were traveling the span during the collapse. But based on the length of road, the lanes that were open, time of day and widely accepted traffic formulas, Northwestern University engineering Professor Joseph Schofer estimated that between 100 and 150 vehicles were on the bridge.

Despite the low death toll, divers were still contending with a treacherous combination of sunken cars, broken cliffs of concrete and jagged rebar as they searched for bodies.

Early in the day, authorities said that as few as eight people were still missing. However, they cautioned later that number could rise, in part because there was no way to know how many victims were in the water. Some people without family in the area might not have been reported missing, Police Lt. Amelia Huffman said.

Authorities still do not know what caused the 6:05 p.m. collapse. Engineers had numerous theories, including heavy traffic and construction work being done on the road at the time that might have put an undue burden on the span. The bridge was deemed "structurally deficient" by the federal government as far back as 1990.

Minnesota transportation officials spent another day dealing with scrutiny arising from a series of reports and inspections over the years that raised alarm about the bridge, including rust-eaten steel beams, missing bolts and cracks in the welding.

A consulting company that thoroughly examined the bridge noted that one possible fix - steel plating of fractures - carried a "relatively high cost," according to a January report. Transportation officials deny that cost pressures swayed their decisions.

Authorities and engineers were in agreement that the truss-style design of the bridge played a big role in saving lives. The steel that supported the bridge was below the structure - as opposed to above the span in more traditional bridge designs. "I think that was a lifesaving feature," Schofer said. "They had this huge advantage. They weren’t crushed by steel."

Clack said that even though the collapse occurred during rush hour, the heavy traffic was an advantage because the cars were almost stopped and didn’t have much momentum. Because of that, the collapse was less likely to hurl moving cars into the river.