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At Least Four Killed in Minnesota Bridge Collapse
Aired August 02, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: No, we're still amazed by this woman.
We keep seeing videotape of her, not even a mask or snorkel, anything, any kind of equipment, just going from car to car, looking in there, trying to see if she can find anybody, make any type of rescue or recovery, just a rope around her -- her waist, obviously, was one of the first-responder type of groups.
But, like the doctor you talked to, there were so many people that came to the scene and tried to help. What kind of injuries were they dealing with? Was he able to give you any details about that or the mood of the people? It wasn't just this doctor that came out to try and help.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, of course. Right.
There were many doctors who -- in the end, there were these civilian doctors who came. There were first-responders. And he said that he would see people who had -- were in cardiac arrest because of the trauma. They had this blunt-force trauma, went into cardiac arrest.
And he said, unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done for someone in that situation. But he said that there were a lot of injuries where they could do something. They could establish airways. There were limbs that were broken. There were people who had back injuries, and they could get into an ambulance.
And the thing that struck me most that he said was that it was incredibly calm, that it was just people went to work. People did what they needed to do. It was organized. There was no mayhem. And you're picking people up out of pieces of bridge that are floating in the river. So, I mean, this was obviously not an easy thing to do.
But to get 55 people under those circumstances into ambulances in less than two hours is really pretty amazing.
PHILLIPS: And that's huge for first-responders, whether it's police, firefighters, remaining calm. That is so crucial to being able to stay focused to do a good job.
COHEN: Right.
And he talked about how much they train for this.
PHILLIPS: Yes. COHEN: I mean, they train -- you can't train for this, but they talked about how much they train for disasters and how that helps.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Elizabeth. Appreciate it.
All right, we're going to talk more about that. Also, 20 to 30 people still missing, divers in the water. It's now being called a recovery effort. We're waiting from the Minneapolis Department of Transportation. That's the organization that owns that bridge. A lot of tough questions going to be thrown at whoever steps up to that microphone.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERNIE TOIVONEN, SURVIVOR: I knew that the deck was going down. And there was no question about it. And I thought I was going to die.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): The search for victims. The search for answers. What caused this disaster?
And America's bridges, is anyone guarding against another catastrophe?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we should look at this tragedy that occurred as a wakeup call for us.
PHILLIPS: Special coverage right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters right here in Atlanta.
Don Lemon will join me from Minneapolis in just a moment.
Live pictures now, as we are waiting for a news conference from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the organization that owns that bridge that collapsed. A lot of tough questions going to be directed to whomever steps up to that mike.
An amazing news conference last hour, too, from Jeremy Hernandez, the 21-year-old young man who rescued those kids on a school bus that was on that bridge. It was amazing. He was a camp counselor traveling with these 50 children on this school bus when that bridge collapsed. Talk about having a guardian angel on board to try and help.
Take a listen to how he told us all how it went down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY HERNANDEZ, SURVIVOR: I just heard a big bang and thought we were in a car accident. But then I felt the bus going down. And I felt like I was going to over the seat. And then, crash, boom, it landed. And then it felt we kept still going after then. It went down again and it crashed. It stopped. And then you could hear kids like moaning and crying. And the dust was in the air. You couldn't see the kids yet, though.
And, then, when the dust settled down, they all just started screaming, screaming: "We're going to go in the river. We're going to go in the river."
Then I looked over at the river. And then my heart started beating fast. And I just jumped over the seats, and I opened the back of the door. And I kicked the coolers out. And then I turned around and trying to dump kids off the bus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right, let's get you caught up on the Minnesota bridge collapse.
It's now officially considered a recovery operation. The death toll stands at four. But somewhere between 20 and 30 people are still missing. Dozens of family members still waiting for word about their loved ones.
Meanwhile, the investigation is up and running. At least seven federal agencies, including the NTSB, are either on the scene or on their way to help.
This morning, President Bush expressed his condolences to everyone affected by the tragedy. First lady Laura Bush is expected in Minneapolis tomorrow.
And members of Minnesota's congressional delegations and others are getting a firsthand look this hour at the scene of the bridge collapse. Senator Norm Coleman and others met with reporters earlier today, and they praised the efforts of first-responders and rescue workers and they also talked about the challenges of maintaining the nation's roads and bridges.
In the word's of the state's other senator, Amy Klobuchar, a bridge in America just shouldn't fall down.
Well, the bridge collapse in Minneapolis may have many of you thinking about the safety and stability of bridges in your town. And as we have found out, those concerns may not be unfounded.
We have two reports for you.
Brian Hamrick of CNN affiliate WLWT is in Cincinnati, and our Greg Hunter is in New York. Let's begin with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREG HUNTER, CNN CONSUMER CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Of course, behind me the George Washington Bridge coming into Manhattan from New Jersey. This bridge is well maintained.
But this bridge isn't like some of the bridges in the country. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, some 27 percent, or 160,000 bridges, across the country are either, their words, structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
And it is not just bridges. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the country needs to spend $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion on infrastructure. That's power grid, water supply, waste disposal, bridges, highways, aviation. A lot of things need attending to, some $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion in expenditures, and this bridge up in Minnesota may be the tip of the iceberg really pointing to a much larger problem that the infrastructure in the country is deteriorating and needs some work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN HAMRICK, WLWT REPORTER: I'm Brian Hamrick in Cincinnati.
Now, this collapse in Minnesota has refocused attention on the aging infrastructure across the country.
Here in Cincinnati, immediately, concerns go to the Brent Spence Bridge which is behind me. This bridge also built in the '60s just like the one that collapsed is a major artery from north to south, not just here in our community, but across the country. It brings traffic from Michigan to Minnesota, back and forth.
Now, this bridge has been recently inspected. It's considered to be structurally sound, but it is functionally obsolete. It is doing things it was not designed to do. The question now is, will plans for this bridge, which are already on the drawing board, will they be considered for more funding with this tragedy now that has happened in Minnesota?
For CNN, Brian Hamrick in Cincinnati -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the scene of the bridge collapse is still a very dangerous place, with divers battling strong currents and strong objects as they search up to 50 submerged vehicles.
And, not far away, dozens of family members are still waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones.
Don Lemon is standing by for us in Minneapolis -- Don.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: How you doing, Kyra?
Hey, listen, I just want to show you just how close we are to the scene. This exactly where investigators are blocking off this section of I-35 here on both sides, both lanes. And this is essentially where that construction was, where folks who were in those cars heard the jackhammers and where they moved these down to two lanes.
You can see the markings on the road as to how they reduced these this four-lane highway into a two-lane highway. Of course, in that Department of Transportation, Minnesota Department of Transportation news conference that's going to happen very shortly, they're going to -- they're going to address those issues.
So, we're going to talk about that as we go to that news conference in just a bit, Kyra, and then we will talk about the families as well in this situation.
PHILLIPS: Let's listen in straight to Governor Tim Pawlenty right now.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: ... emergency operation center and take care of some other items. So, I will come back as part of a 4:15 press availability.
So, if you have some follow-up questions for me, I will be available then as well. But I will turn it over in just a few moments to federal and State Department of Transportation officials, who will make some presentation about the technical aspects of bridge inspections and bridge construction and bridge repair and the like. We hope that that will be helpful to you, and they will try to answer all of your questions as well.
Today, earlier, I announced some action steps regarding direction to Mn/DOT to take some steps. And I want to make sure that you know what those are. First of all, I have directed Mn/DOT to hire an outside firm to conduct a parallel investigation to the NTSB. We have every confidence and belief that the NTSB will do a professional and terrific job in investigating this matter, but we want redundancy, and we want to make sure that nothing gets missed.
So, they have hired the firm of Wiss, Janney, & Elstner -- that's W-I-S-S -- Janney, J-A-N-N-E-Y -- and Elstner, E-L-S-T-N-E-R -- to perform that function. They are forensic engineers. They have a long and involved history in forensic engineering, including doing a review of the Boston Big Dig problems that they had in the wake of that.
Number two, I have directed the Minnesota Department of Transportation to hire an outside firm to review stem to stern all of their inspection practices and protocols and procedures. They are in the process of identifying the firm and obviously will be involved in approving that to conduct that review, stem to stern, of all inspection procedures, protocols and timelines.
Number three, I have instructed Mn/DOT to conduct emergency inspections of bridges in priority order, starting with the bridges that have a same or similar design in Minnesota. At this point, we believe there are three of them.
They are as follows, Trunk Highway 23, located near Saint Cloud, Trunk Highway 123, located near Sandstone, Trunk Highway 243 located near Osceola, by the Saint Croix River Valley. Those three will be of course first on the list.
In addition, I have asked them to conduct emergency and urgent inspections of all the remaining bridges who are on this list that you all heard of called structurally deficient. And state and federal officials will give you more information about what that means, that term or that definition. I think we provided it earlier. But if you have further questions on that, they will be available to help you.
We also have some additional data that might be helpful to you. There was 2004 federal data that has been cited in the media about the number of bridges, the categories that they fall in around the nation and here in Minnesota. I will share with you some 2007 Minnesota data.
You should know that the federal data is not independent. They take the data from the state and then do an assessment to it. But the data that is actually collected on the ground is almost entirely exclusively Minnesota data. So, this data is from Mn/DOT. It will be shared with the federal government. And, of course, they will do additional assessments from ten.
There are approximate 13,026 total bridges in Minnesota. That includes both state and local bridges. Of that, there are 106 state bridges in this category of structurally deficient. And there are about a little over 1,000 bridges in total, including all the local bridges, that fall into that category.
You should know, as to this particular project, that -- I should say this particular tragedy -- that firm that I mentioned earlier will do a stem-to-stern analysis of this failure of this bridge as well as the other things that I mentioned.
Now, with respect to the failure of this bridge, we have mentioned before that there were inspections done in 2005 and 2006, also a -- at least the beginnings of a review in 2007. In short, what those inspections show -- and the Mn/DOT folks and the federal folks can get into more detail -- is while there were concerns about stress and fatigue in aspects of this bridge, Mn/DOT has informed me that it did not result in a calling for an immediate replacement or closure or weight limitations or other restrictions on the bridge.
There were concerns noted, but it didn't rise to that type of level as to the 2005/2006 inspections. In 2007, there was also a review under way that was done in conjunction with Mn/DOT and a consulting firm. That gave Mn/DOT some options as to the bridge. They chose an option regarding additional inspections, which is what this 2007 review was undertaking to do.
Obviously there's going to be a lot of tough questions and hard questions, first and foremost from me as well as from the press and from everyone else. And we will absolutely get to the bottom of this. There were a lot of decisions made, a lot of judgment calls made, and they're all going to have to be critically reviewed.
And, of course, those are all going to go back and be revisited and with the benefit of hindsight. With that, I'm just going to take a couple of questions. But, really, the point of this gathering is to make the experts available to you from an engineering standpoint and the like. And, then, again, if you have follow-up questions for me, I will make myself available to you at 4:15 and at other times as well.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: How confident are you that the state engineers' assessment that the bridge didn't need to be replaced, that they were correct in 2006?
PAWLENTY: I should say it this way, Pat (ph). I think there was a view that the bridge was ultimately and eventually going to need to be replaced. But it appears, from the information that we have available, that the timeline for that was not immediate or imminent. It was more in the future. And that's what they were working towards and planning towards.
QUESTION: Governor, you heard from dive teams within the last hour that had to give up their search for the time being because the current was too strong. There are families out there wondering about their loved ones, people perhaps submerged in vehicles.
Have you heard from anybody at the federal government, the Army Corps of Engineers to help slow down the flow of that river to assist in the rescues or recovery?
PAWLENTY: Can you just hold on to that for me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.
PAWLENTY: Jeff (ph), you're exactly right. That's one of the limiting factors of the recovery effort at this point. We know there are vehicles downstream and upstream as well. The currents are very challenging, as well as the debris in the water. That is hampering the rescue efforts.
The search-and-rescue -- or the recovery team and leaders have determined that they're going to do this as quickly as possible, but they can't do it at risking the lives of the searchers and the divers. And that's the limiting factor.
The Army Corps of Engineers is involved. They're part of the team that's helping to make these decisions. But one issue is, what to do, if anything, about the current of the river. And they are looking into that.
QUESTION: Governor, there is a list of bridges in this state that is prioritized for replacement. The bridge maintenance people, I asked them this afternoon if they would tell us where this bridge ranked on that list. And they told me that they have the ranking, and they know where it was listed, but that it's considered private information.
Can you... PAWLENTY: Well, I don't -- I don't agree with that assessment, Rick (ph). And we will certainly try to make that available to you in terms of the -- trying to make that available and public.
QUESTION: Governor, what's your understanding of what made this bridge structurally deficient? I know we are going to hear from the...
(CROSSTALK)
PAWLENTY: Yes.
QUESTION: What is your general understanding? Are these fatigue cracks? Are they expansion cracks?
PAWLENTY: Well, I have worked hard today to make sure we get an understandable definition of structurally deficient. And I'm not the best person to answer that, but I will give you my take on it.
It includes whether on any of these measures on the federal assessment you score a four or lower, and there was three or four categories of assessment on this bridge. In one of the categories, it got a four, and I think that related to the superstructure.
But in addition there's a definition of structural deficiency as it relates to whether there has been things like weight limits placed on the bridge, whether it needs -- quote, unquote -- "immediate rehabilitation" and/or -- or, I should say, some other considerations.
So, you can get this label a variety of ways. You should know that there are 70,000 to 80,000 bridges in the United States who have this designation, and an equal or greater number who have equally troubling designations in other categories.
So, it's important that you remember that the secretary of transportation told me last night and told us again this morning that that designation does not presuppose necessarily that the bridge was dangerous or was in need of immediate replacement. It has certain other implications. But in this case, based on what we know right now, we don't have an indication that the experts who reviewed this thought it needed to be immediately closed or imminently replaced.
Work needed to be done, and inspections and options were presented. But it didn't fall in that category. Now, with the benefit of hindsight we're going to go back and ask tough questions. Was that the appropriate recommendation? Should they have made a different recommendation? And that's going to be part of this investigation and review that we're ordering by this outside firm.
(CROSSTALK)
PAWLENTY: Yes. This will be the last one.
QUESTION: Does anything in this incident speak to the need for you and the legislature to get together and come to something mutually acceptable in some transportation funding package that everybody can live with?
PAWLENTY: Yes, clearly. And I have been spending even before this happened time with legislative leaders on a transportation funding package. In fact, ironically, yesterday, I met with my staff about a whole variety of options on that front for the next legislative session.
I think it's important to know, though, that, given what we know now, that this bridge wasn't imminently scheduled for replacement, not on money but on engineering, looking at a 2020 type of horizon, that, even if a bill would have passed a year ago or two years ago, it doesn't look like this bridge would have been replaced in the near or imminent term.
QUESTION: Is a special session in the offing on transportation or infrastructure?
PAWLENTY: You know, I am committed to doing anything and everything that is needed to, first of all, make sure that this rescue effort is done well and done well and completely, that the NTSB and these investigations that I have outlined here this morning are done well and done exhaustively, that the reconstruction takes place as urgently and promptly as possible.
And we will do anything and everything it takes to make that happen, including the possibility of a special session. I will also tell you that in my discussions with the secretary of transportation, that they have committed essentially unlimited resources to us.
Now, of course, that has to be -- go through Congress and all of that, but we're going to have a very helpful partner, it seems, in that regard.
I will make myself available to you additionally at 4:15 and at other times, but I think it's important to hear from the technical experts on their perspective.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
PAWLENTY: Brian (ph), obviously, if anybody comes to me -- and this was done at the Mn/DOT level, obviously -- but if anybody at Mn/DOT were to come to me and say that we have a bridge that's imminently dangerous or is imminently in danger, obviously, it would be closed or other actions would be taken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Thanks, guys.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
PAWLENTY: Bob McFarland can address that. But I think we're talking about a matter of days or week. But I will defer to him on that, Pat (ph).
I am going to introduce Bob McFarland, who is one of our leaders in the Minnesota Department of Transportation. If you could just be patient with your questions until he is able and some others are able to make a presentation -- we know it's hot. He will try to do it quickly, and then he will take your questions.
Bob.
OK. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
BOB MCFARLAND, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: As the governor said, I'm Bob McFarland with the Minnesota Department of Transportation. I'm assistant to the commissioner for policy and public affairs.
On behalf of Lieutenant Governor Molnau, Lieutenant Governor, Commissioner Molnau, and the entire Mn/DOT family, I want to take this opportunity to express our sincere condolences and heartfelt wishes to the families of those who lost loved ones and to those who are injured.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) hear you. Speak up...
(CROSSTALK)
MCFARLAND: OK.
Expressing our -- Mn/DOT's condolences to those who have lost loved ones and those who are injured by this tragedy.
We're going to provide you -- first, I want to just mention. Some have asked this question. Lieutenant Governor, Commissioner Molnau was in Beijing last evening when this tragedy occurred. She was contacted by Mn/DOT staff. She is on her way back and left China immediately and is expected to be back in Minnesota around 7:30 or 8:00 this evening for -- for -- that bit of information.
We're going to try and provide you some information related to a lot of questions that have been asked today regarding bridge inspections, structurally deficiency classifications, how we do bridge inspections, and how we partner with the Federal Highway Administration and the USDOT on ensuring safe bridges across Minnesota and across the country.
I believe Lucy Kender has given most of you the names of people who are going to speak today. We have a number of experts. They will introduce themselves. Or I will introduce them as they come forward.
The first person who is going to speak is Dan Dorgan. He will cover a number of issues related to the history of this bridge, its inspection history, its classification as a structurally deficient bridge.
And the governor -- I want to remind you, as the governor mentioned, there are some close to 80,000 bridges in the country that carry that classification.
And, so, Dan Dorgan, Mn/DOT's bridge engineer, will talk to you a little bit about that. And then we will have some information from the Federal Highway Administration.
Dan?
DAN DORGAN, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Thank you, Bob.
Good afternoon.
I would like to start with giving you a little information on the history of the bridge, a brief history of it.
Construction began in 1964 on this structure. It was completed in 1967 and opened to traffic. The company that built the structure was -- Industrial Construction was the contractor.
The bridge type is a steel arch truss. It's an under-deck truss, meaning it's supported from below. There was two arches that supported this bridge. The traffic on the bridge was 141,000 cars a day, on average. So, it was a heavily traveled structure.
Some information on the inspection history on this bridge, we have conducted yearly inspections since 1993. Prior to that time, we construct -- we conducted inspections every two years on this structure. But, starting in 1993, we went to an annual inspection.
In 1990, it was classified as a structurally deficient bridge, which is a federal description. And we will go into that a little bit later. This particular bridge was structurally deficient initially due to corrosions of the bearings, so that they were not able to move as freely as we -- as designed.
Since that time, as the years have passed, we have also had some corrosion of the steel around the joints of the bridge. And there were, in the approach spans, not in the main river spans, but in the approach spans, we did have fatigue, cracks in the 1990s that were repaired.
Recent inspections in 2005 and 2006 -- and, again, we check this every year -- we found no evidence of additional cracking in the bridge or growth in the preexisting cracks. There was cracks that were present in the welds, what we call the tab welds, of the bridge since the day it was built. But those did not -- were not growing, and they were stable.
So, for those reasons, we considered the bridge fit for service.
Several studies have been conducted on the bridge in recent years, beginning with a 2001 study by the University of Minnesota -- or, actually, by Dr. Robert Dexter of the University of Minnesota, who was a recognized fatigue expert.
The findings of Dr. Dexter's research at the time was that fatigue cracking -- cracking was not expected in the deck truss, that we could expect continued years of service from that structure. And
One of the reasons for conducting these studies was, again, the traffic volume of 141,000 cars a day. It was our busiest bridge within the state.
We conducted a further study from 2004 to 2007 with URS Corporation. Again, that was an in-depth study of the fatigue potential, with additional modeling and load-testing -- or I should take that back -- with additional modeling of the bridge, more in- depth than the 2001 study.
The outcome of that study was two alternatives that we received this year from URS to consider. One was to ensure, again, continued service in the bridge, because we were -- we were looking forward to the year of around 2020 when we would either need to re-deck or replace the bridge. So, we were trying to address the issue if the bridge would be fit for service at that time and whether we could re- deck it.
So, the two alternatives we were given were to add steel plates to the critical members, to reinforce them, was one route to go. A second route to go was to construct -- or conduct, rather, a thorough inspection of the welds inside the box to determine if any cracks, in, again, those tab welds inside the box that were present since it was built were propagating.
We chose the inspection route. In May, we began inspections of the bridge, had the bridge partially inspected this year. And we were going to complete that this fall. There was construction going on in the bridge, so we were going to wait until construction completed to finish that inspection.
The results of that inspection were that no growth in any of the preexisting weld cracks were found.
So, that is -- that is the history of the recent inspections of it.
I would like to spend a little time -- again, Bob and the governor mentioned structurally deficient, explaining that term. Structurally deficient is a term that was developed by federal highways for purposes of the national bridge inspection system that all states comply with and conduct their inspections.
Bridges are inspected regularly on either a one- or a two-year basis, or two-year cycle around the country. And there is a rating scale that inspectors are given. It's a rating scale that goes from one to nine, with nine being a bridge in excellent condition.
So, if you -- a structurally deficient bridge is a bridge that would have a rating of four in either the deck -- that's the -- the deck is what one drives upon -- the superstructure, which would be the portion of the bridge spanning from pier to pier supporting the bridge, or the substructure. Any one of those in condition four or less, the bridge is considered structurally deficient.
This bridge was considered structurally deficient. And it was for -- classified that way, as I mentioned earlier, for the -- for the reasons I mentioned, the -- the bearing issue, on the fact that we had had fatigue in the approach spans, but had repaired it, and then also the corrosion.
In Minnesota, out of out of 13,000 bridges that are 20 foot and over in span -- and that's the federal definition -- 1,160 approximately are structurally deficient. That's about 8 percent of the state's bridges. Of those, the Minnesota DOT, the Trunk Highway portion of those, is 106.
So about 3 percent of the Trunk Highway bridges are structurally deficient. And, again, this was one of those groups. Comparing that nationally, for a point of reference, nationally, there's over 77,000 bridges structurally deficient. And that's about 13 percent of the country's bridges.
QUESTION: How many of those in the metro area, the 3 percent?
MCFARLAND: Can we hold -- can we hold the questions until he gets through it all?
DORGAN: OK.
And, actually, with that, I have covered the items that I intended to cover.
Bob, did you want to take questions now?
MCFARLAND: No. No.
DORGAN: OK.
MCFARLAND: To provide a little bit further information on the items that Dan just covered, I would like to introduce Tom Everett of the Federal Highway Administration. And he's in particular with the National Bridge Inventory program. And he will talk about the inventory program and the definitions of structurally deficient and other definitions within the federal highway perspective.
TOM EVERETT, NATIONAL BRIDGE INSPECTION PROGRAM: Thank you.
And I just -- I will keep my comments brief and limited to basically two areas, and with one correction. It's the National Bridge Inspection Program, the National Bridge Inventory being one part of that overall program.
First, I just wanted to echo what Mr. Dorgan described relative to the definition of structurally deficient from the federal highway perspective. We view that term as a programmatic classification, rather than an indication of level of safety.
As was also indicated, it is not a -- a number that -- or a classification that indicates the bridge is dangerous, a bridge is dangerous, nor that that bridge isn't -- must be replaced. It's just, for us, a -- a programmatic classification.
Now, with respect to the national bridge inventory, that is the database that we maintain in the Federal Highway Administration, that contains data -- over 100 pieces of data for all bridges in the United States, with a bridge being over 20 feet in length. That's essentially, as it gets reported to us in our database, a collection of some descriptive terms, such as the feature carried by a bridge, facilities intersected, as well as well as some numerical ratings that you heard Mr. Dorgan describe. As an example, the condition rating of a bridge deck or the condition rating of a bridge superstructure. It would be a single number and we would generate or can generate from that national bridge inventory a report on just that limited data, the 100 or so items that get reported to us in the national bridge inventory.
So with that, I think I'll...
BOB MCFARLAND, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Next, Mn/DOT's metro district engineer, Khani Sahebjam, will talk about the type of construction work that was going on on the bridge at the time of collapse.
And why don't we cover that right now and he'll be back to talk about another item in a minute?
KHANI SAHEBJAM: Thank you, Bob.
Again, my name is Khani Sahebjam.
I'm the metro district engineer.
I would like to cover three things, anticipating your questions. One is about the construction project that's been going on out there on that bridge. It was a $9 million project which included about $7 -- $6.5 million of roadway patchwork and about $2.5 of the $9 million is work actually on the bridge.
And the work on the bridge consists of patching and overlaying and some joint repairs.
And the anticipated completion of that project was September -- toward the end of September, September 30th.
The next thing I'd like to cover is obviously we have detoured a lot of routes and you've gotten some information on that. The information that I've received this morning, traffic went real well, although there's reasons for that. People probably stayed away from the area or didn't go to work or took different routes. And we are continuously monitoring the traffic flow and what we have done to temporary routes.
We're looking, at over the next couple years, as this bridge is under construction, we are looking at temporary fixes to increase capacities in areas using shoulders and doing some unconventional ways. So I hope the travelers will watch our signs and we want to increase our throughput through our system as much as possible.
Again, all of that will be monitored daily through our cameras.
The third thing and the last thing I'd like to cover is where are we going from here? How are we going to get a contract together?
When are we going to start construction?
We have a team established already, in conjunction with the City of Minneapolis, to work on a procurement contract, to hire a contractor -- a designer and a contractor -- to get this project on the road as quick as possible.
We have ways of doing this fairly quick. However, we have to -- we have an investigation going on out there on the river and as the NTSB is doing the investigation and as the -- and when we get permission to remove the structure, that's when we can start -- the start the construction. So -- and that work is going forward and hopefully we can get out there pretty soon.
We are determining...
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as you can imagine, this has been a lot of information.
I'm going to try to bottom line it for you.
We actually really did learn a lot here, as we heard from the governor. We heard from members of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the department that owns this bridge. We were just listening to the head of construction, talking about why that bridge was under construction. And, also, we heard from the national bridge inspection program, the director involved with that.
And here's what I will -- I'll try and condense it for you.
What we did find out, everybody has been asking about structurally deficient -- why was this bridge labeled as structurally deficient?
And that's because in 1990 there were concerns about the corrosion of some of the bearings, corrosion around some of the steel joints of that bridge; and, also, a number of cracks and fatigue found in that bridge.
There were a number of inspections that went on from there checking those cracks, checking the fatigue. Apparently, there was no growth in those pre-existing cracks.
However, no one seemed to mention what was the status of the corrosion of the bearings or the corrosion of the steel around the joints. And you just heard there from the head of construction, who was saying the type of construction they were doing -- patchwork on the tar and working on the joints. So that's something interesting to take a look at.
Now, structurally deficient. A rating of nine means it's in excellent condition. Apparently this bridge got a rating of four. There were problems with the deck, the superstructure -- which is the pier to pier part of that structure -- and also the substructure, where they found corrosion and fatigue.
Interesting, though, when we heard from the head of the national bridge inspection program, he said it doesn't mean that this bridge was dangerous or that it need to be replaced.
However, they are mentioning that the bridge did have these problems.
Now, seeing what has happened here, witnessing this disaster, could that change?
Could the fact that there were issues in cracking and fatigue and also the joints and the bearings, does that mean that maybe the status should be changed when judging whether these bridges or safe or not?
That's how we're going to take this story, obviously, to the next level and also follow the investigation.
We'll be following all the live news conferences, all the details.
Meanwhile, 20 to 30 people still missing, possibly bodies still in the water. Divers on that recovery mission right now. We're covering all angles of this investigation.
And, also, many of you have been our eyes and ears to the horrific events that have been happening in Minneapolis.
And Veronica de la Cruz is going to have a closer look at your I- Reports just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone.
I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon at the scene of this terrible bridge accident in Minnesota.
We want to update you now on the situation that's happening here. If you look behind me, you see that investigators are still out on this bridge, this same ramp here, where the construction was going on yesterday when this bridge collapsed.
You see this four lane highway that's been moved down to a two lane highway so that they could do repairs and renovations on this bridge, a bridge that by all accounts pretty much seemed to have been in dire need of repair.
Just moments ago a press conference by the governor and also the Minnesota Department of Transportation revealed that the governor is looking at hiring an independent -- hiring independent investigators to do a joint investigation along with the investigation that's going on with the NTSB. But here's what's important and was key about that and what I'm being told by officials it's going to come down to. These reports revealed that these bridges did not have -- this particular bridge did not have enough plane or redundancies, as what they call it.
And what that means, if one gives away, if something gives away, a beam or a girder or a piece of steel or what have you, there was enough backup in place where others would take over and support the bridge.
So whether or not the bridge was in need of repair, it may not needed to have been closed at that point, but it may come down to this -- that there weren't enough planes, weren't enough redundancies to make it fail-safe on many levels. There weren't backups after backups after backup. And that's what most bridges and most structures have. If one gives way, the other one will take over.
Let's talk about the human side of all of this. These are the technical issues that everyone is dealing with, trying to figure out exactly why this happened and to keep it from happening again.
In the meantime, people -- dozens of families are waiting to hear from their loved ones that they haven't heard from since yesterday. They're holding out hope.
One of those families is the Engebretsens, who I spoke to a couple of hours ago. They came out and they talked to me. They're waiting for their mom, these two daughters who were adopted from Colombia by this 40-year-old woman then, who is 60-years-old now, they're waiting for their mother, haven't heard from her since she took this route home yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA ENGEBRETSEN, MOTHER IS MISSING: Just pray, please. That's all we can ask right now, just hoping. Just be positive and everything will be OK.
LEMON: Your phone has been ringing off the hook?
ANNE ENGEBRETSEN, MOTHER IS MISSING: Yes.
J. ENGEBRETSEN: Yes.
LEMON: What are they saying to you?
J. ENGEBRETSEN: Just that we're with you, our prayers are with you, we love you. If there's anything we can do, just ask.
LEMON: Dad, I heard you standing here talking to your girls, saying just be positive.
RON ENGEBRETSEN, WIFE IS MISSING: Yes, be positive. That's all we can ask for all of us. Sherry would want us to be positive. She would be positive for us if we were lost or unaccounted for. And we just hope for everybody, and for her, in particular, that, you know, the Lord is with her, and he's protecting her. And, you know, she's somewhere, some way, or if she's in a hospital in some way, as a Jane Doe, unidentified, that we can somehow get to her. And maybe she has the medical attention she needs.
For some reason, she took a route last night home which was a little bit different from normal that -- with all the construction on 35-W, and that decision was hers. I mean that was a positive decision we all support, I mean, because I traveled that bridge for 30 years into downtown Minneapolis. And, you know, you go across that bridge and you have certain feelings, but, you know, it was a very -- an avenue for providing communication and travel for all people into the downtown area and for 35-W, in particular. And so -- so we hope.
A. ENGEBRETSEN: My mom's a fighter. She'll make it.
J. ENGEBRETSEN: She's very strong.
A. ENGEBRETSEN: She's a strong woman. She's going to come back home. She's going to be home.
LEMON: Did she teach you about strength?
J. ENGEBRETSEN: Yes.
LEMON: To say strong now?
A. ENGEBRETSEN: Every single day. I'm 20 years old and she's still teaching me how to be a strong person, a strong woman, and to be independent and -- but also how to love, and just be there for the people you love.
LEMON: You?
J. ENGEBRETSEN: Yes, my mom is one big fighter. I know she can get through this. She's just somewhere where we can't see her right now and she's just -- she's just waiting.
LEMON: Yes, what would you -- what do you want to say to her, if she could hear you?
J. ENGEBRETSEN: That we love you and we just want you home now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Ann Engebretsen is a 20-year-old. She's the one that's in black. Jessica Engebretsen was -- is 18-years-old. She's the one that's in the burgundy sweatshirt. They have not gotten any sleep, obviously, all night. The father, Ron, you saw him standing next to them, he's awaiting word, as well. And we just got a picture of Sherry Engebretsen that we showed during that interview.
We asked them for pictures earlier and they, you know, started laughing, saying she would not want her picture shown on national television. So they were a little bit concerned about showing her picture on television. They said it with a smile, though, but then realized the importance that her story gets out just in case she is in a hospital and people don't -- may -- may identify her or may recognize her from showing that picture. But, again, those girls were adopted, you know, 20 years ago and 18 years ago. Obviously the 20- year-old adopted first and then they went back and adopted the other girl when they were just months old.
But families here, as we've been seeing, dozens of families awaiting word for their loved ones.
Investigators are telling tells us now that, sadly, they believe that this is a recovery effort and not a rescue effort. They don't think that they're going to find anyone else. But they still are holding out hope that there are people down there.
I heard you and Chad, Kyra, talking about this train that you've seen in this video possibly vibrating under these tracks. That train was definitely on the tracks. No word from investigators whether or not that train was moving, if the vibrations from that could have lent or contributed to this accident.
And, also, there are people who are saying that there were working with jackhammers on this bridge, during the time of the collapse. There are still lots of questions about what exactly caused it. Lots to be figured out here. But investigators really are going to have some tough questions to answer in the days and the weeks and the months ahead.
But our hearts go out to the people who are waiting word and, of course, those who were injured and those who lost loved ones in this tragic situation.
PHILLIPS: And, Don, you bring up an interesting point, because as we heard from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, 77,000 other bridges rated exactly like this bridge. And they admit to cracks. They admit to fatigue.
So what if there were train vibrations or a lot of construction work going on on these other bridges?
Could we see the same thing happen to these other bridges that had the same type of deficiencies?
LEMON: And that's the question. I mean the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, this morning talking about that our country has a failing infrastructure and we're in dire need of getting money to that and also to addressing those issues.
The person you had on from the corporal -- from the Army Corps of Engineers, the same issues, where he said this isn't necessarily his bridge, but it's certainly a cause for concern and it's certainly something that they're going to be looking at over the days to come in other areas.
That's why the governor is having almost every bridge in this area, every bridge that have this similar rating, he's having those checked. All the highways, the same thing -- under construction -- having that checked, as well, and ramps and what have you. This is -- I think -- is going to be a wake up call for the rest of the country to get a look at these bridges who may be somewhere on that rating scale, the not so desirable part of that rating scale, to get them inspected and to take them out of service if it's in jeopardy of something happening like this.
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And that's 77,000 of those bridges with the same rating.
Don Lemon, thanks so much.
And a big part of our coverage out in Minnesota has relied on people like you at the scene sending us photos, videos.
And Veronica de la Cruz of the Dot-Com Desk has been sorting through the dozens and dozens of I-Reports today, which just happen to be the first anniversary of the CNN I-Report.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the first anniversary.
PHILLIPS: And it works.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, yes. Quite an impact. And just to give you a sense, more than 300 people have sent in I-Reports. And breaking news like this is exactly the reason why CNN launched the I-Report initiative one year ago today.
We're going to take you back to this video now. This was shot by Andrea and Ryan Whitaker, who were on their way to the Twins game at the time.
Kyra, we were just talking about this freight train that was passing under the bridge on the east side of the Mississippi River and whether or not that train -- the vibrations might have had anything to do with the bridge collapse.
Now, as you can see, the bridge crushed several cars. And authorities say there do not appear to be any hazardous material on these cars.
Now, an interesting perspective to show you. These are from Ryan Broshar, who was on his bike on the Tenth Avenue Bridge when the Interstate bridge collapsed next to him. It sent up a huge cloud of dust. And we haven't really seen this angle too much today. He describes the scene as unreal. He watched people climb out of their cars, apparently unhurt. He also saw bodies being pulled from the river. And you can see that piece of bridge there that's just floating on top of the water.
Now, Kyra, these are some of the first photos that we received of the tragedy. People came together. They began recording the event just moments after it happened. And soon after, these were the pictures. These were the images that we received. They're pouring into our inbox. And just to give you an idea, Kyra, CNN receives about 4,000 submissions each month. And like I mentioned, today we've been flooded with pictures and video.
I want to show you these photos now from Josh Fisher. He says that he was at the corner of I-35 and University when he heard a rumble and then saw a cloud of dust. Now, like many other people, Josh raced up to the Tenth Avenue Bridge. He began snapping photos.
And this is from Steve Dworak, who hopped on his bike. He pedaled four blocks to shoot this video just minutes after the bridge fell. And he says he was standing on the shore about 50 feet away from the collapsed structure. Absolutely amazing images.
Now, if you out there know someone who was there, if you were there, go ahead and videotape your story, put yourself on camera. Send it to us right now at cnn.com. Just click on the I-Report logo and that's going to take you through the entire process.
Also, you can go to CNN.com/ireport for even more information.
And, you know, Kyra, I was just speaking with one of our I- Reporters. His name is Brian Coop. And I asked him if there was a moment that will stay with him forever. And besides all of the destruction and all the devastation that he saw, he said he stood back and he noticed 40 other people around him holding out their cell phone cameras. And he asked them why they wanted to shoot video. And they said, you know, we want to capture this moment in time.
And if you think about it, they're really doing everyone a favor, because some of these pictures and some of the video will help the NTSB in their investigation. And they're also helping us in our coverage.
PHILLIPS: Wow!, that's interesting. I never thought about it. So investigators actually come to these I-Reporters and say we saw this photo, we saw this videotape, this could help us solve the problem here.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes. And that's already happening.
PHILLIPS: Wow!
That's great to hear.
Veronica de la Cruz, thanks so much.
We're going to take a quick break.
We're going to continue our coverage of the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota.
More testimony, more details and more on the investigation, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Our affiliate stations in Minneapolis were on the scene moments after the bridge collapsed and they haven't left.
Here's a look at the tremendous work that they've been doing for nearly 24 hours straight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY KCCO)
GOV. TIM PAWLENTY, MINNESOTA: It takes your breath away and sinks your heart. And in the horror of this incident, there is a silver lining in it that shines through, and that is the goodness of Minnesotans. And you saw it in the tremendous response of the first responders and emergency responders, a tremendous outpouring of support and resources and personnel and equipment.
They did a tremendous job and I think saved a lot of lives that were at risk in the moments and hours after the bridge initially collapsed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WCCO)
DR. DOUGLAS BURNETTE, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: The injuries were all pretty much consistent with blunt force trauma. So there were a number of head injuries, a number of chest and abdomen injuries. And we have some facial injuries, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WCCO)
JEREMY HERNANDEZ, RESCUED CHILDREN FROM BUS: I just heard a big bang and I thought we were in a car accident. But then I felt the bus going down, because I felt like I was going over the seat. And then it crashed.
Boom!
RYAN WATKINS, SURVIVED BRIDGE COLLAPSE: Everybody was crying for their mom and they want to go home.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We were on our way back from the swimming pool trip and we were riding over the bridge and the bridge collapsed. And we were right on the part where it went down, it curved down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY KARE)
CHIEF TIM DOLAN, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: Right now the perimeter is large and it needs to be overly large. It will be -- it will be reduced as the bridge itself becomes safer and we are able to recover what we need to recover.
MAYOR R.T. RYBAK, MINNEAPOLIS: This is something that will not be about one news cycle or a couple of days. It is really about families who are now only beginning to understand the depth of what it means to have a loved one who is no longer here or to have a loved one whose whereabouts you don't know about. And so it is important for us all to have contained compassion and sustain compassion that will stick with us for the long period of time that we'll need for this community to heal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, we sure want to thank you for joining us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And, Don, as we continue to follow this story, two really big issues.
First of all, the investigation into why that bridge collapsed. We're learning so much more about the structural deficiency and how 77,000 other bridges across the nation have the same problems this bridge had. No doubt this is going to have a domino effect with regard to engineers checking their bridges.
And then you, covering the side of the recovery effort, and a lot of people waiting to hear about their loved ones.
LEMON: Yes, absolutely. People are waiting and, you know, we're going to continue to cover this throughout the evening and on into prime time, starting with "THE SITUATION ROOM" in just a little bit, on to "Lou Dobbs," "A.C. 360" and "PAULA ZAHN".
I just want to break down the third wall a little bit just to show you how people are interested in this. Just -- it's captured the world.
I've seen newspaper reporters from as far as away as from Sweden and Germany. And that is the media lined up on of this hotel here, because this is the best shot and as close as we can get to all of this.
And you can see our reporters, a host of reporters here.
Our Brian Todd is standing here next to me, getting ready for his shot for "THE SITUATION ROOM."
So we are on top of this. We're going to continue to follow and it bring you more personal stories tomorrow in the CNN NEWSROOM, as well as throughout the evening here on the network -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Don.
Now we're going to take it over to our Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" for continuing coverage of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
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