The 35 W Bridge collapse in Minneapolis has brought to the forefront several questions that we need to evaluate for both business and individual awareness. Here are some facts about this bridge that you might not be aware of: The bridge opened in November 1967. The length of the bridge was 1907 feet. The width was 108 feet or 8 traffic lanes. The height was 64 feet above the water. This bridge is unique because it was constructed with a single 458 foot steel arch to avoid putting piers in the water which would impede river navigation. Daily traffic is 141,000 vehicles per day as of a 2004 count.

With this information let's take a look at possible infrastructure/operational activity that could affect both business and individuals. (We will keep to the Minneapolis Area). Energy Sector: Xcel Energy has three feeder lines that were damaged or destroyed. This caused initial outages in the area for some 4000 customers until electricity could be rerouted. (This did not take long). Xcel is now in the process of building a loop around the bridge. The three feeder lines are now covered in the debris from the collapsed bridge. Maritime Sector: USCG has closed traffic on the Mississippi from mile marker 847 to mile marker 854. Let's look at the industrial impact: American Iron: They rely on barge traffic to move scrap material to several users down stream. Because they move around 5 barges a month they now will have to move it by truck and that calculates to 300-350 truck loads a month at much higher costs. River Services: River Services provides access to barge traffic and imports fertilizer, bailing twine, bunker sand, pig iron and steel to local businesses. They were also in a competitive bid for salt which would equate to 20 barges per year. Additionally they receive two barges a month of coal. River Services is looking at rail and truck as an alternative at higher costs. Aggregate Services: They move 5000 tons of material in two shipments. Primary products are sand, gravel, and limestone. They currently have enough products on site to support 3 weeks of end user needs. They have already had to lay off 35 employees because of river closure, cutting their operations in half. Two passenger vessels are docked above the area and operate cruise and charter services along the river. To date the owners of the vessels have reported a loss of $25,000 of revenue and are anticipating at least $100,000.00 loss in charter revenues by the end of the month. Metro Transit Authority is experiencing an increase in travel in rider ship as well as an increase in travel times because of road congestion. They are experiencing late arrivals on up to 30% of their routes.

As you can see the impact of this collapse is far reaching for all in Minneapolis. Are you prepared? It is not too late to look at your individual situation and make advanced plans for a personal response to a situation that would affect you. Here is a fact: even after seeing all the news coverage and reading this article 99.9% of you will not plan ahead and instead will wait or procrastinate until it happens to you. By planning ahead you can save you and your family time, energy and money. What bridges do you cross going to work? Is their a second or even a third route available to you? This time it was a bridge next time it could be something else, maybe an earthquake. I ask all too at least start to think about an emergency response plan for yourself and your family. You might ask do I have one. Yes, I do for myself and my family, because when I get called for an emergency response I could be responding to your needs and if I leave my family I want to be sure they are safe. That way I can concentrate all my energies helping those that did not plan. YOU!

About the Author

Works as a Transportation Security Specilist/Crisis Management Specialist for DHS/TSA. Website: http://swiftdefense.com email: info@swiftdefense.com