Crossing one bridge at a time (W35 He – like much of the overlay crew – was on break)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_3630

By Michael Kuchta
25 April 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - Going back to work on the new 35W span helps this Carpenter move on from that fateful August night. A lot of construction workers want to work on rebuilding the Interstate 35W at St. Anthony Falls. Rob Bailey has more reasons than most.
Bailey was a member of the road crew that was resurfacing the bridge last Aug. 1 when it crumbled into the Mississippi River. One crew member died; others were seriously injured. “I knew I wanted to build this new one, no matter what,” Bailey says. “It means more to me. I’m not just earning a paycheck.”Rob Bailey, now a foreman for the new 35W bridge project:


Rob Bailey, now a foreman for the new 35W bridge project: “I don’t live each day like it’s my last, but I don’t take anything for granted.”


Separated from crew

Bailey, a member of Anoka Carpenters Local 851, was working for PCI last summer. He – like much of the overlay crew – was on break, gearing up for another shift that was supposed to last until 2 in the morning. He drove to a nearby Mobil station to load three coolers full of pop and Gatorade for the night ahead.

“I was usually with that cluster of guys,” he says. “I was a minute and a half from becoming a statistic.”

Bailey never heard or saw the bridge fall. His first hint of trouble was when he suddenly got stuck in traffic. He tried calling his foreman to say he’d be late getting back. “Little did I know there was nothing to come back to.” Then he heard the first news reports on the radio.

Bailey started calling co-workers on their cell phones. Nobody answered. “I can’t describe the rush that came over me. I thought I had lost 20 co-workers.”

He left his truck on Washington Ave. and ran toward the site. Police wouldn’t let him through.

FULL story at link.