Looking southbound. The bridge to the left is
the 10th Avenue Bridge.
August 1, 2007: The Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis collapses into the River around 6:05 PM -- rush hour, Central Time, making it 7:05 Eastern -- killing 13 people and injuring 145.
The bridge opened in 1967, and connected an area east of downtown to the Northeast Minneapolis neighborhood that includes the main campus of the University of Minnesota.
The replacement, known as the Saint Anthony Falls Bridge (always written with "Saint" spelled out, never abbreviated as "St."), was built in less than a year, and opened to traffic on September 18, 2008, 3 months ahead of schedule.
When the collapse happened, my father -- who designed highways and their improvements for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, but never bridges -- told me that 1 out of every 4 bridges in this country needed to be replaced. We figured, with only a year and change to go before a new President was going to be elected, America was finally ready to talk about infrastructure.
With a few exceptions -- New York City and New Jersey among them -- we were very wrong. This was despite the fact that, a little more than a year later, the Republican Convention would open in nearby St. Paul. And we would remain wrong until 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
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August 1, 2007 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The Minnesota Twins lost to the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Despite being only 8/10ths of a mile from the bridge collapse, and scheduled to start only an hour later, the game was not postponed. Alex Gordon hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 10th to win the game for the Royals.
* The New York Yankees beat the Chicago Whit Sox, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher. Jorge Posada hit 2 home runs, and 1 each was hit by Derek Jeter, Robinson Canó and Shelley Duncan.
* The New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-5 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Óliver Pérez allowed 5 runs in the 1st 2 innings, but hung on for 6, striking out 11. The Mets came back thanks in part to home runs by Ramón Castro, Marlon Anderson and Shawn Green.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* The Washington Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 12-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 15-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Ronny Paulino went 2-for-5 with a grand slam.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-6 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. An error by Cleveland pitcher Jensen Lewis doomed the Tribe to a 3-run Ranger inning in the top of the 10th.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres, 905 at Petco Park in San Diego. The D-backs scored 4 runs in the top of the 11th, including a 3-run homer by Chad Tracy.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 6-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dodgers scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th, including a 2-run homer by former Boston star Nomar Garciaparra.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. The Halos scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to tie the game, Yuniesky Betancourt singled Adrián Beltré home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th.
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