Blanked Out

I apologize for the inconsistent posting. It has been due to inconsistent housing and internet access. Both have now been solved - this past weekend MNDOT gave us one day to fully move out of the old apartment next to the I-35W collapse site. It was a frantic grab for everything but now it’s done. Coincidentally, we were there at the same time they took down the last part of the south side of the bridge. It was surreal since there was a crowd of people on 10th Ave bridge looking down upon us. Click on the picture to see more.

Hard to say right now.  According to the Pioneer Press the minimum number of work days to be bid is set at 337.  Which means debris would have to be cleared and work beginning on October 3rd 2007 in order for the bridge to be completed before September 4th 2008.

However, MNDOT has also provided a $27 million bonus if work is completed a full 100 days earlier than “scheduled”.  Does that mean 100 days less than 337 or that after shaving off 100 days the minimum is still above 337?  The former seems to be unrealistic but I can’t check the RFP myself to be certain -   I’ve been trying to download the RFP for the entire morning and it’s rather slow.  Apparently, it’s a very popular download at the moment.  I’m off to work but will check it out this afternoon.  If anyone reads it in the meantime feel free to comment.

Just heard it on Fox 9 news. Can’t find any link just yet. Glad it’s finally over - all the families can now complete their grieving process. My heart goes out to them.

Mercedes Gorden survived the collapse but was was seriously injured. He friends and family are planning a benefit concert at the Fine Line Music Cafe on Sept. 23rd. Check here for details and donations. If there are any other events like this, let me know.

Still mulling over the bridge redesign. Doesn’t help that they keep changing it! If you haven’t figured it out, Blanked-Out is not a daily blog read. I put a considerable amount of research into every post - 90% either gets cut or put on the back burner to simmer until it’s ready. Best solution is to sign up for my RSS feed. If you have issues with the feed email me at noah AT blanked-out DOT com.

Just found a high resolution photo of the proposed bridge redesign. Will review and post comments later tonight. The image can be found on this page - download the PDF for the high resolution image.

There is also a link for public comments. The link to comments from the image page is not correct. If you would like to electronically comment on the bridge design, go here:

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/comment.html

If you want to sign up for email updates on the reconstruction, go here and click on email list:

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/thanks.html

Key points (MPR):

• Southern end moved 81 feet, not the 50 feet originally cited below.  However, this was due to the collapse, not a cause.
• Focus is now on northern end - the southern end was the easiest to examine.  In comparison, the northern end is going to require aerial photography.  The Big Dig collapse investigation took a year.  I wouldn’t expect a final answer on this until 2008.
• I happened to be at my former home when I saw a bus drop off civilians on the Cedar Ave bridge.  Took some photos but found out later they were families of the deceased.  I won’t be publishing them.  Suffice to say a large US flag is now flying from the Cedar bridge.

That I’ve seen anyway.  I’m shocked there haven’t been more, given the sea of gawkers I had to fight through during the first 48hrs.  Send me photos of any memorials you find: noah [at] blanked-out.com.

On Almanac. I’m floored. I ran into Pawlenty the night of the collapse. I was impressed with his presence of mind at the time and I’m glad he’s following through by taking this event seriously as both disaster and opportunity for policy review. Rybak advocates for a broad vision - we have to rethink transportation from top to bottom.

Remark:  Is it true that there is a group going to protest Bush tomorrow?  That’s sick and wrong.  Please, don’t.  If Bush goes to the same place the First Lady visited, that’s right next to my cul-de-sac.  I’ll be moving my things out and that’s the last thing I need.

Decided not to post video from evacuation. Really doesn’t show anything useful and is just stressful to watch. I will post video from when we finally got back home last night.

To my knowledge we are the only civilians allowed in the exclusion zone. The recovery process is going to be perhaps even slower than people think. They are taking extreme safety measures to avoid any risk of injury. The secondary collapse mentioned below was minor but it takes just one small piece of concrete to wreak havoc.
Thank you to everyone in the Mpls Police and Red Cross who helped us get back.
I’m also grateful to the media who put us in touch with the right people.

Initially, no one knew who to talk to - special thanks to Jeff Passolt of Fox 9 who took a vested interest in the situation and eventually put me in contact with the right person.