Survivors of Previous Bridge Collapses Reflect on Trauma Following Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Bridge Collapses Revisited: Surviving the Unthinkable

As the world witnessed the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, 2024, memories of past bridge collapses were reignited for survivors. The devastating event brought back harrowing experiences and highlighted the enduring trauma and emotional impact on those who have lived through similar ordeals.

'There Was Definitely Something Wrong'

Linda Paul, now 72 years old, vividly recalls the fateful day of August 1, 2007, when she survived the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis. At the age of 55, she found herself trapped in her minivan on the bridge during the evening rush hour. Her intuition signaled trouble as she observed the bridge's center section giving way, plunging her vehicle 50 feet down as the concrete deck disintegrated. The catastrophic event claimed 13 lives and left 145 individuals injured, including Paul, who sustained fractures to five vertebrae and her left cheekbone.

'It Was Kind of, Like, Jolty'

Reflecting on the haunting experience, Jessie Shelton, now a 35-year-old Broadway actor and voiceover artist based in New York, recounted her survival of the 2007 Minnesota bridge collapse at the age of 18. She vividly described the sensation of sliding backward before losing consciousness due to the impact, which resulted in a concussion and four spinal fractures. Miraculously, she awoke in a hospital, narrowly escaping a potentially fatal encounter with a cement block that had come loose and narrowly missed her in the wreckage.

"I had a big cement block in the backseat of my car," she recalled. "It narrowly missed me. It came off of one of the signs, I think, up above. So it really was pretty miraculous that I made it because I couldn’t have navigated out of that situation, because I was out cold."

Escaped Through a Hand-cranked Window

Gustavo Morales Jr. lived through a similar nightmare when the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, partially collapsed on September 15, 2001, after a tugboat struck a pillar. Morales, who was driving his pickup truck at the time, vividly remembers the terrifying moments before his vehicle fell into the water. His quick thinking, aided by wearing a seatbelt and being able to manually roll down the window, allowed him to escape the submerged truck, resulting in him being among the three survivors out of the eight individuals involved in the tragic incident.

Multiple Surgeries and Trauma

Garrett Ebling, 49, who survived the 2007 Minnesota bridge collapse, expressed his deep empathy for the individuals affected by the recent bridge collapse in Baltimore. Enduring multiple surgeries and emotional trauma, Ebling emphasized the preventable nature of such disasters and the importance of learning from past tragedies to avert future catastrophic events.

As these survivors, among many others, continue to grapple with the enduring impact of their harrowing experiences, their stories serve as poignant reminders of the need for rigorous safety measures and preventive strategies to safeguard the integrity of critical infrastructure and protect human lives.