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The I-35W Bridge Failure | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

Fascinating Horror

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"On the 1st of August, 2007, the I-35 West Mississippi River Bridge, one of the busiest bridges in Minneapolis, collapsed..."

Fascinating Horror posts weekly videos covering the true stories behind some of history's greatest disasters. The channel is made possible by supporters on Patreon and YouTube channel members. HUGE thanks to everyone who supports this channel!

LINKS: 🔗
► My other channel: @fascinatinghistoric
► Support this channel: Patreon: fascinatinghorror | @fascinatinghorror
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► Get in touch: hello@fascinatinghorror.co.uk

CHAPTERS: 🔖
► 00:00 - Intro
► 00:43 - Background
► 02:59 - The I-35W Bridge Failure
► 07:07 - The Aftermath

MUSIC: 🎵
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "The Plan's Working" by Cooper Cannell

SOURCES: 📑
► "Collapse of I-35W Highway Bridge" by the National Transportation Safety Board, published August 2007. Link: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/A....
► "I-35W Bridge Collapse and Response" by the US Fire Administration, published August 2007. Link: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/p....
► "10 Years After Bridge Collapse, America Is Still Crumbling" by David Schaper, published by NPR, August 2017. Link: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540669....

#Documentary #History #TrueStories

20 Comments

@Hickernator 4 years ago

Funny, isn't it, that there is never any money to fix or do essential repairs to a building or structure at the time, yet when said building/structure collapses, there is all of a sudden plenty of money there to replace it fully...

@lisaseverance6785 4 years ago

I live in Minnesota and after this collapse, every bridge in the the state was inspected with a much harder line. Every bridge over the interstates, bridges over rivers even tiny little bridges over small creeks or waterways. They replaced at least three tiny bridges near where I live in the following years. And I mean tiny, unless you knew what to look for, you would likely never even notice it was a bridge which I suspect meant they were seldom inspected. The bridge on the road to my house was replaced when it was discovered that it was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed earlier.

@argoth83 4 years ago

I really appreciate documentary channels like this. Hearing someone just give out facts about what happened, why, and the aftermath is much more preferable to me than any dramatization. It's respectful, and I'm finding out about so many incidents that I've never heard of. Thank you for your work.

@hebneh 1 year ago

4:18 - I remember reading a comment from a rescue worker describing the screams of children in the school bus as they approached. This worker said that screams were a very good thing to hear, since it meant that the kids were alive and still conscious.

@LadySingingWolf 4 years ago

It never fails to boggle my mind that we're allowing our bridges to get so bad when the bulk of them are in desperate need of replacement. If something isn't done I fear we'll see more collapses in the coming years. Anyway, another amazing video as always! Thanks Fascinating Horror!

@brianruohoniemi696 4 years ago

As a Minnesotan I can tell you this was one of those "do you remember where you were when _ happened?"
Also thanks for doing this disaster, as it should be remembered, still learned new things too

@sixstringedthing 4 years ago

"Structurally deficient... within tolerable limits" has to be one of the most egregious examples of negligently kicking the can down the road that I've ever heard of. Self-interested politicians always love announcing "big and bold" new infrastructure projects (especially in election years) without bothering to cost out and secure funding to maintain that infrastructure over the decades to come. Details like that always seem to become the next generations problem, or the next after that, and so on. Until some tragedy occurs and lives are lost.

@jdmack4 1 year ago

I remember my mom saying that she was supposed to be driving from work on the bridge that day but she took a different route because of traffic, kinda crazy to think about

@sidewinder666666 2 years ago

I live here and watched this story develop in real-time on the local TV stations, starting with a news program that broke in to say "We're getting reports of a bridge collapse on I-35W"... Had this happened only an hour earlier, during end-of-workday "rush hour", that bridge would have been bumper-to-bumper traffic it's entire length. The fact that only 13 people died is a small miracle in itself, though that's no comfort to those who lost loved ones that day. :(

@Theyrecomingtogetyoubarbara 4 years ago

To be honest I’m surprised there weren’t more deaths. The collapse looked absolutely horrific. I think the worst part is that everyone was just going about their day. Trying to get home or working before catastrophe appears from nowhere. So sad. Very scary to know there are a lot of bridges that are definitely far from safe.

@katethielen3883 4 years ago

As a kid growing up in Minnesota, I thought the civilian response to the accident was normal. When I was in a car accident, it was maybe 3 seconds between impact and a group of six worried looking people pulling my car door open. Thank goodness for all the efforts that went into saving lives, because 13 people is a lot of people (too many) but it sure as heck could have been more.

@SunnyNight 4 years ago

“This structure is insufficient in its integrity and should be replaced, but that’s a problem for another day. If it’s standing today it’ll stand tomorrow, right?” Seems to be the most common mindset with infrastructure around the US, it’s just kicking the can down the road. There was that bridge collapse in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago too.

@jonathanaikman2285 4 years ago

Once again, hindsight is a wonderful thing but it takes 13 deaths for funding to be miraculously found for a brand new bridge.

@Monolithyk 3 years ago

My dad drove over that bridge three minutes before it collapsed. He said there were MNDOT crews jackhammering on it and the bridge was noticeably wobbling.

Several engineering schools throughout Minnesota forge rings from the old bridge’s steel trusses (an albeit, morbid way) to ensure they always remember the importance of sound structural design.

@jeffrey8959 4 years ago

This channel continues to be of the highest quality. In addition to a lack of swearing, it also has on-screen citations of the photographs used, and there are no short video segments of things that have nothing to do with the story -- as some other channels do. The topics continue to be compelling and well-researched.

@TheSmitty9221 4 years ago (edited)

Man; my dad, brother, and I crossed this bridge coming home from the Children's museum in MSP about an hour before the collapse. I was so intrigued by this collapse, my senior project in 2015 was on Failing American Infrastructure. We had a massive project and presentation required for graduation. Through the time spent researching, one of my mentors gave me a small display jar with some concrete from the bridge collapse. He was an engineer from the twin cities that helped determine the cause of the collapse!

@TheFlowerGirl13 4 years ago

A diaster I'm intimately familiar with: I had several friends and my mother in law who were in transit from Minneapolis to the eastern suburbs. All of them had to pass over that bridge to get home. Everyone was accounted for, except for my mother in law, who called us several hours later once she realized what happened. She had gone over the bridge somewhere between 10-15 minutes before the collapse

@my12spoonswithrose43 4 years ago

I think many times its not that they can't afford to repair, it's that they don't want to spend they money until they are forced to. Then they run for cover pointing fingers as they go, which is sad as no human life should be treated that way

@Northernstar9370 2 years ago

I drove my semi across the 35W bridge about 2 hours before it collapsed. I had just parked and come in the house when my wife told me to come look at the TV. Not a moment I'll ever forget. I crossed that bridge 4 or 5 times a day hauling out of RockTenn paper mill.

@NikkiAkaNlg 4 years ago

I remember this day quite clearly.. My family was having a get together. We were at my mothers house (in Wisconsin) and we were waiting for everyone to arrive. My cousin and his wife who lived in the twin cities were the last people we were waiting for. We had gotten a frantic phone call from my cousin who told us the bridge he had crossed had collapsed. He was freaked out and kept telling my family "That could of been us." I'm so grateful he and his wife weren't on the bridge as it collapsed.

For the unlucky people who were trapped and didn't make it, rest in peace..