A subtle set of turning points in the I-35W bridge tragedy
After making their remarks, a survivor of the I-35W bridge collapse and family members of victims listened as others spoke at the news conference where the design for a memorial for the bridge collapse was unveiled. They are, from left, Erica Gwillim, who was on the bridge; Bob Espeseth, who lost his brother-in-law; and Justina Hausmann and her mother, Helen, who lost her husband, Peter, in the collapse.
Photo: Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune
A pair of Star Tribune articles recounts a subtle turning point in the story of one of the greatest tragedies to befall the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities.
August 19th, three years after the tragic collapse of the I-35W bridge, Minneapolis officials announced that Bohemian Flats park would soon reopen to the public. The park occupies the riverfront across from the University of Minnesota's iconic Weismann Museum and below the Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis. Since shortly after the collapse, the park has stored the twisted wreckage of the collapsed bridge.
"This [debris] is just a sad reminder of a terrible tragedy," Parks Commissioner Scott Vreeland told the Star Tribune. "I think it would be advantageous to get rid of the wreckage and honor people in a way that isn't so visually disturbing."
September 9th, city officials announced that such a memorial is taking shape. Just up the river from the current I-35W bridge, across the parkway from Gold Medal Park and the new Guthrie Theater, a Remembrance Garden will honor victims and survivors of the collapse.
The memorial will be dedicated August 1, 2011 the fourth anniversary of the collapse and will feature 13 vertical I-beams, one dedicated to each victim. A memorial tribute will be written about each victim by one of their relatives in their native language, six languages in all.
It happened that the press conference on the Remembrance Garden came to a close just as the first truck hauling the bridge wreckage passed nearby. "I thought it was appropriate," Bob Espeseth told the Star Tribune. Espeseth's brother-in-law died in a truck fire on the bridge. "It was like we were all moving on."
For more information, including images of the planned memorial, please see the Star Tribunes:
Bob Spaulding, River Planner, based upon Star Tribune articles by Alex Ebert, Paul Walsh, Steve Brandt and Bill McAuliffe