After Pittsburgh, man recalls surviving deadly MN bridge collapse
(NewsNation Now) — In the wake of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, some are recalling the deadly I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007.
Thirteen people were killed and 145 others were injured in the collapse.
Andy Gannon, one of the survivors of the collapse that sent cars plummeting into the Mississippi River, said Friday’s incident reminded him of Aug. 1, 2007.
“It brings it all back. You wonder how this can continually happen. You wonder what’s going to happen moving forward to stop this,” said Gannon.
Following the collapse in Minneapolis, he thought more was being done to rebuild infrastructure across the country, but he’s not as sure now.
“Obviously it hasn’t,” he said. “There needs to be more work done to prevent this from happening. We as citizens expect our cities to take care of these things as we pay taxes, and assume that things are taken care of when sometimes they just aren’t. This is what happens.”
Gannon said there isn’t a day that goes by where he doesn’t think about the collapse he survived.
“I actually carry a piece of the bridge with me in my pocket every day,” he said.
The slab of concrete Gannon was on fell 58 feet, and he assumed he was going to die. He suffered survivor’s guilt after the accident.
“I always thought that survivor’s guilt was just something that people just kind of want to say made up,” he said. “But survivor’s guilt is very serious.”