of a highway bridge over the Mississippi River will take hands-on sleuthing and sophisticated computer models that simulate how giant steel girders can snap in two, federal investigators said Sunday. The National Transpor- tation Safety Board (NTSB) is employing both methods, and veterans of investiga- tions into major structural disasters say its only a mat- ter of time before a key clue pops out of the twisted steel and rubble or the computer simulation. Im confdent that theyll fnd the cause of this, said Gene Corley, a private engineer who has investigated numerous di- sasters including the World Trade Center collapse on Sept. 11, 2001. So far, NTSB Chair- man Mark Rosenker has been cautious at briefngs near the wreckage of the Interstate 35W bridge that buckled during rush hour Wednesday night, saying it will take many months be- fore completing the investi- gation. The collapse killed at least fve people and eight are listed as missing. It took fve months after the fatal July 10, 2006, ceil- ing collapse of a highway tunnel in Boston before in- vestigators zeroed in on the cause: an improper epoxy glue used to attach ceiling panels to the tunnel. A full year was required before NTSB issued its fnal re- port. Investigators have spent See INTO THE RIVER on page 4 The Lake Wobegonian MINNEAPOLIS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2005 The bridge shown here collapsed into the Mighty Mississippi yesterday and took an unknown number of drivers with it offcials say. Minnesota Bridge Replacement on Fast Track According to Gov. John Smith Against the shock of a mighty spans inexplicable fall at rush hour, into the nations greatest river bridge experts offer this reassurance: The same fed- erally mandated inspections that show one-quarter of U.S. bridges to be structur- ally defcient or function- ally obsolete also indicate theyre in very little danger of collapsing. Of course, thats what the same experts would have said about the Inter- state 35W bridge in Min- neapolis before it crashed down Wednesday. As rescue crews searched the Mississippi River on Thursday for what could be up to 30 more vic- tims beyond the four con- frmed dead, it was clear that the bridges sudden fail- ure like a similar one 40 years ago in West Virginia that inspired the inspection system could put a new focus on the nations decay- ing bridges. Across the nation Thursday, there was a fresh urgency on improving in- frastructure the roads, bridges, utilities and other basics of modern life that arent always the most pop- ular spending priorities for governments. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and several governors ordered safety reviews for thousands of bridges, especially those similar to the steel-deck truss span that collapsed in Minneapolis. There are about 700 such bridges in the USA. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine went further, promising evaluations of all 6,400 local, state and federal bridges in his state, regardless of owner. In Minneapolis, there was grief, outrage and questions over whether government offcials could have done more to pre- vent the disaster. A bridge in the middle of America shouldnt fall into a river, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., whose home is near the span. The disaster on Min- nesotas busiest bridge which carries 141,000 cars a day raised hopes of more money for infrastructure in general. The bridge col- About 15 divers from local counties did a bank-to- bank search Thursday after- noon and found 11 vehicles, including an 18-wheeler, said Lynn Schwartz, Communication Specialist for the Bridge Col- lapse Command Center. Ve h i c l e s with bodies inside are be- ing taken out of the river, while empty ones are being marked and left in the wa- ter, she said. Dozens of cars are trapped in the rubble or in the river after the eight-lane interstate bridge collapsed during Minneapolis eve- ning rush hour. Eight peo- ple are still missing, said Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek. [We] dont have a hard understanding of how many vehicles are underneath the bridge and that wont be known until theres an op- portunity to get some heavy equipment in to move the bridge or portions of it, said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Thursday. Stanek said conditions in the Mississippi River were treacherous, as the twisted steel and blocks of pavement were pushed around by river currents. He said the search could go on for fve days or longer. Four people were con- frmed dead after the disas- ter. They were identifed as Sherry Lou Engebretsen, 60, of Shoreview, Minne- sota; Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage, Minnesota; Pat- rick Holmes, 36, of Mounds View, Min- nesota; and Arte- mio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Offcials said at least 79 people were injured. Before she learned of Sherry Engebretsens fate, her daughter, Jessica, waited near the bridge for news of her mother and asked peo- ple to pray for the missing. Dozens of distraught people clutching photo- graphs and license plate numbers waited for word of their missing loved ones. The Red Cross has set up a family assistance center in the ballroom at the nearby Where Did All The Bridges Go? Into the River Divers look for survivors in the Mighty Mississippi A plan to replace the bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River last week is on the fastest of fast tracks: State offcials want the span open by the end of next year, and contractors interested in the job must contact the state by dawn Wednesday. State offcials have an ambitious schedule to award contracts to replace the bridge next month, even as search crews remained stymied in their efforts to recover at least eight miss- ing victims from the depths of the Mississippi River. Five people are confrmed dead. A brutal winter could throw the states rapid re- construction schedule off. But other conditions are favorable -- including a construction industry with plenty of available resourc- es to take on such a daunt- ing challenge. It is doable. It is a bit fast, but this is an emergen- cy, said Khaled Mahmoud with the Bridge Engineering Association in New York. And if we are ever good at anything, its responding to emergencies. It took only seconds Wednesday night for the eight-lane, 1,900-foot steel truss Interstate 35W bridge, which opened in 1967, to collapse. Three days later, the state had already begun looking for companies in- terested in erecting a new bridge in just 16 months. Erecting a new bridge like Minneapolis would ordinarily take about three years, even if the design KATHARINE Q. SLEAZE Offcials see new urgency to improve conditions of US bridges PIP SQUEAK BERT AND ERNIE DOUGLAS The carnage can be seen here from a different angle as rescue crews try to save the missing. YO MOMMA Eve-Angelica L. Darwin [We] dont have a hard under- standing of how many vehicles are underneath the bridge and that wont be known until theres an opportu- nity to get some heavy equipment in to move the bridge or portions of it, -Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty See DIVERS on page 8 See OFFICIALS on page5 WEATHER: THE NEXT THREE DAYS See MINNESOTA BRIDGES on page 4 High: 72 Low: 45 High: 65 Low: 48 High: 50 Low: 31 All the news from Lake Wobegon A Quaint Lutheran Community