Minn., victims still struggling after bridge fall

[August 01, 2008]  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- It was just past 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007, when the Interstate 35W bridge buckled and fell into the Mississippi River. Thirteen people died.

One year later, the bridge's replacement is nearly finished, but the investigation is not. Many of the 145 people injured in the collapse are still struggling to rebuild their lives -- physically, financially and emotionally.

And Minnesota, along with the rest of the country, is still struggling to address the infrastructure needs laid bare by the catastrophe.

___

THE SURVIVOR: There's only one span across the river Karge Olsen trusts -- the Ford Parkway bridge between Minneapolis and St. Paul, where traffic never seems to stop.

Olsen panics when it does. A year ago, he was stuck on the I-35W bridge when it gave way.

His father-in-law, Glen Legus, wrote a poem describing how Olsen's Jeep Compass "crumpled like a soft aluminum can."

Olsen is still on crutches from his latest operation, the sixth since October, with a cast encasing his left foot. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and broke his collarbone, two neck vertebrae and four bones in his foot. His shoulder separated. So did his left big toe.

He and others are preparing claims from a $37 million victims' fund created by the Legislature, even though settlements won't come until next year. Olsen is also trying to raise money to help other victims by selling a self-published book called "Bridges Don't Fall Down." It contains poems about the victims and stories about Olsen's life since the collapse.

"I'm willing and ready to admit that I'm in pain every day. It's pretty terrible, to be honest with you," Olsen said at a St. Paul cafe near the one bridge he dares to drive. "But I am here. I am speaking with you. I'm very fortunate. And there are some that aren't as fortunate as I, and others that had no fortune that day."

--By Martiga Lohn, Associated Press writer

___

THE BRIDGE ENGINEER: Amid the design awards in the Minnesota bridge headquarters display case in Oakdale is a simple glass memento marking 2007 as "A Year of Crisis."

Dan Dorgan can attest to that.

For the state's chief bridge engineer, word of the I-35W collapse brought disbelief. The sight of the wreckage brought horror. The days, weeks and months after brought intense scrutiny for Dorgan and his team.

"It's the type of thing we spend our careers trying to make sure does not occur," said Dorgan, 55, who joined the transportation department as a college intern in the 1970s and rose to the top bridge job in 2000. "Yet, it did."

Dorgan found himself thrust before television cameras, bombarded with questions about what was done to safeguard the bridge and what signals of impending disaster might have been missed. He labored to convert his technical knowledge into language ordinary citizens could understand.

After the spotlight faded, Dorgan remained in demand by investigators working for the federal government, a state auditor, a law firm hired by legislators and others.

However tough things got, Dorgan said he knew victims and their families had it worse. He resolved to see the investigations through.

"That is not something you would want to leave to somebody else to have to pick up," he said. "The bridge did collapse while I was the state bridge engineer so I feel I need to deal with it."

In the past year, thousands of Minnesota bridges received extra inspections, with Dorgan and his team ordering three crossings closed pending further review because of designs similar to the I-35W bridge. One is shuttered until replacement.

"Daily we spend time dealing with the aftermath of I-35W. I'm not complaining," he said. "That's natural of tragedy of this proportion."

--By Brian Bakst, Associated Press writer

___

THE INVESTIGATOR: From the beginning, the investigation into the collapse was been laced with politics.

"I'm not going to tell you that we've never seen a political investigation here before," said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, "but this one did have a good deal of political interest and outcry. Why? This was a very highly visible event of incredible magnitude. Bridges don't fall in the United States -- it's rare that they do, very rare."

That leads to questions about the state of the nation's infrastructure, and whether the country is spending enough money on its upkeep, Rosenker said.

In January, Rosenker, a Republican nominated to the board by President Bush, rankled the Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, by pointing to design error as "the critical factor" in the bridge collapse. He said some gussets on the 40-year-old bridge -- the plates that helped connect its steel girders -- were too thin.

The state's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, viewed that as some vindication because the initial focus by critics had been on maintenance. But Oberstar said the board shouldn't make pronouncements on the cause until the investigation was complete.

The relationship between the two chairmen deteriorated further when the NTSB voted 3-2 not to hold an interim public hearing on the collapse -- with the board's three Republicans overruling its two Democrats. Oberstar told Rosenker at a congressional hearing that Minnesotans were becoming skeptical about the board's objectivity.

But Rosenker stood firm.

"We recognize that there's politics out there," he said. "But we do not engage in politics, we are not influenced by politics."

Rosenker said investigators are in the final phases of the probe. Besides the design error, the board has said the weight of construction materials on the bridge during resurfacing was a factor.

But the chairman said the board is also looking at other potential factors, such as corrosion, cracking, fatigue and poor maintenance. The board plans a public hearing on the final cause in 90 to 100 days, Rosenker said.

--By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press writer

___

THE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: When the bridge went down, Ron Erhardt rushed to the scene, ready to help and desperate for answers.

Erhardt, then the top Republican on the Minnesota House Transportation Finance Committee, knew the tragedy would reverberate at the state Capitol, where road spending plans had hit a dead end.

Within days, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he was reconsidering his opposition to a gas tax increase. But he soon recommended a temporary increase offset with tax reductions elsewhere in the budget.

Over a Pawlenty veto in February, the Democratic-controlled Legislature approved a $6.6 billion transportation plan funded by higher auto fees, sales taxes and an eventual 8.5-cent bump in the gas tax.

As the override vote neared, Erhardt conferred with other House Republicans ready to break ranks and decided, "We are not protecting the governor's butt any longer. This has got to be done.

The repercussions were swift. Members of the so-called "Override Six" lost committee leadership positions and several were denied party endorsement for the fall election.

Two are leaving the Legislature on their own. Two face primary challengers. A fifth hasn't been hit as hard back home because the bill accelerates a highway project in his rural district.

Erhardt, who won his seat in 1990, filed for re-election as an independent and will face Republican and Democratic challengers in November. The incumbent who routinely attracted 60 percent of the vote expects a tight race.

Erhardt said a few people he met on the campaign trail had a vehement response to his vote. He's not sorry, though.

"You can only fiddle with this stuff so long. People don't like increases in taxes. I don't. But I don't know how else to pay for that," he said.

--By Brian Bakst, Associated Press writer

___

THE PROJECT MANAGER: Peter Sanderson was in India working on a massive new bridge over the Arabian Sea when he heard a freeway bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis.

"I had been there for two years," said Sanderson, now project manager for the building of the new I-35W bridge. "That was the day I decided to come home."

Sanderson, 60, had long maintained that the U.S. wasn't doing enough to improve its aging transportation infrastructure. Here was a concrete example, and Sanderson -- who'd spent his career doing civil engineering projects around the world -- figured it would mean new opportunities in his line of work.

He was right. Two days after the collapse, the president of Colorado-based Flatiron Construction called Sanderson, who himself led the company from 1993 to 2000. Flatiron was planning to bid on the reconstruction of the bridge, and its executives hoped Sanderson would lead the team.

Today, a skeleton of the new bridge spans the river where the old one stood. It could open by September, a time frame Sanderson said is unparalleled in his 40 years in the heavy construction business.

"Every day has brought an unanticipated wrinkle. Every hour," he said.

But every hour has also brought the bridge closer to completion, pushed along by a construction crew that at times exceeded 500 workers. They've kept to a grueling, 24/7 pace, with work only slowing for a few hours on major holidays.

But Friday, work will come to a complete stop for six hours. From 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sanderson said, there will only be silence.

--By Patrick Condon, Associated Press writer

[Associated Press; By CHRISSIE THOMPSON]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.