The I-35 W bridge was built in 1967 and its collapse has exposed the vulnerability of other infrastructures to destruction and it has aroused everybody’s consciousness about the neglect of some key structural designs as regards their pending failure, it has further made the respective authorities to closely monitor and regularly inspect these infrastructures in order to guard against their failure (Subramanian, 2008).

It is imperative to look into the collapse of this bridge and investigate the causes of the bridge and check whether the disaster could have been averted by taking precautionary measures. The events that followed the collapse of the bridge would also be closely monitored vis-à-vis the response of the emergency management team in ensuring that the number of casualties was reduced to a minimum.

The findings gotten in this paper would help prevent future occurrence of infrastructural destruction and it would ultimately improve the response of the emergency unit in managing situations such as the one that befell the state of Minneapolis in 2007 as we seek to ensure adequate and effective disaster planning and management.

There have been warnings concerning the imminent collapse of the 1,900-ft long I-35 W Bridge in Minneapolis as several experts had cautioned the authorities on the likelihood of the disaster. The unfortunate incident occurred on the 1st of August, 2007, just a few minutes past six, the Interstate highway with eight lanes crumbled inside the Mississippi River, plunging people into the Mississippi River and separating them from their vehicles. People and vehicles were displaced around the north and south ends of the bridge. The I-35 W Bridge collapse became a national tragedy and there were doubts in some quarters that the accident was caused by terrorist attacks due to the magnitude of the collapse. The I-35 W Bridge, which carries about 140, 000 vehicles a day is the second busiest bridge in Minneapolis and what was the most occupied bridge turned into a disaster scene as the structures of the bridge practically collapsed in just a space of four seconds (I-35W Bridge fact sheet. Minnesota Public radio, 2007).