ASCE Responds to the I-35W Bridge Collapse

In response to the catastrophic I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, ASCE is playing a significant and proactive role in the review and analysis of one of our nation's tragic infrastructure disasters. Shortly after the collapse occurred, ASCE immediately began to provide technical and authoritative information to the media and has developed a dedicated area on the ASCE website to providing further resources and related information. The website will continue to evolve over the coming days and should serve as an excellent resource to keep members up to date and help in answering any general questions that may be received. ASCE members can take pride in knowing that ASCE and the civil engineering profession continue to play such a key role in understanding and responding to natural and man-made disasters and in improving the resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure.

Monday, August 20, 2007

ASCE Update on I-35W Bridge Collapse

The City Council and the Mayor of the City of Minneapolis adopted a "Statement of Principles" about what they believe the new I-35 replacement bridge project should contain. These were adopted on Friday August 17th and are available at:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/docs/35W_state_princ.pdf

Minnesota DOT (MN-DOT) has hosted several public meetings on the new I-35W replacement bridge project and has posted handouts from these meetings. MN-DOT has also provided an update on the permits for this project. To date, permits have been received from the Minnesota Department of Natural resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Permits are pending from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The handout in the link below provides a full listing of the permits and describes that the additional lanes on the new bridge to accommodate transit may not be for light rail, but could be for a bus rapid transit lane, High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane, High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane, or some other form of managed lane.
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/pdfs/bridge-replacement-overview.pdf

The Minnesota State Legislature has scheduled a second hearing on the new I-35W bridge replacement. The Minnesota Senate Transit Subdivision and the House Transportation Policy and Transit Subcommittee will convene a joint public hearing on August 22, 2007. View the announcement at:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20070820BridgePublicHearing.asp

[Summary compiled by Susan Lane, ASCE]

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