Workers remove a school bus from the debris of a serious bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minn. The bus carried 52 children from a visit to a water park when the bridge collapsed. All the children survived the fall. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Busiest Bridge in Minnesota Collapses in August -- 13 Killed

Thirteen people were killed when the busiest bridge in Minnesota collapsed. About 80 people were injured. The bridge broke apart August 1.

The accident happened in Minneapolis. The bridge crossed the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis. Many of the victims were in cars or trucks on the bridge. It was during afternoon rush hour.

About 100 vehicles were on the bridge at the time. The roadway fell about 60 feet into the river.

Wisconsin's governor reacted to the tragedy. Governor Jim Doyle ordered inspections of 15 bridges in the state. Those bridges are of the same design as the one that collapsed. Wisconsin no longer uses that design for bridges. The state now uses more modern designs for bridges. The roadway of the Minneapolis bridge is at the top of the structure.

Doyle also told the state Department of Transportation to review safety records for all 13,654 bridges in Wisconsin. The governor says it is important for people to feel safe on bridges in Wisconsin. He says the state uses the best and newest technology to make sure bridges are safe.

Only two lanes open when bridge collapsed
Only two lanes of the eight-lane bridge in Minneapolis were carrying traffic at the time of the accident. There were no other restrictions on the bridge at the time of the accident.

The bridge had four lanes side by side. The eight lanes were a total of 113 feet wide. The bridge was 1,900 feet long.

Traffic was limited to only two lanes because repairs were being made to the bridge. One of the people who died was a worker for the construction company that was doing the repair work. The other victims were in vehicles.

Most of the repair work was for re-paving the roadway of the bridge. The state of Minnesota was spending about $9 million for the repairs.

The $9 million figure was considered a small amount compared to the cost of making major repairs to the bridge.

Work on the bridge was almost finished. The repairs were scheduled to be finished by September 30.

The repairs also were not considered major. The bridge had passed recent inspections. It was considered safe. The bridge was expected to be used for many more decades. The bridge opened to traffic in 1967.

Cause of accident is unknown
The cause of the collapse was not known. Investigators expect to take about a year to figure out what caused the tragedy. The agency in charge of looking into the cause is the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is a federal agency.

The bridge is known as the Interstate 35W Bridge. It carried about 140,000 vehicles per day. It carried the main north-south traffic.

Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota. The second largest city in the state is St. Paul. Minneapolis and St. Paul are next to each other. Together, they have about the same number of people as Milwaukee.

Wisconsin Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi says he does not believe the design of the Minneapolis bridge played a role in the collapse. However, Busalacchi says Wisconsin is going to inspect its bridges just to make sure they are safe.