Bush vows safe, speedy rebuilding of Minnesota bridge (Roundup)

Aug 5, 2007, 3:55 GMT

Washington - US President George W Bush flew over the rubble of the bridge that crumbled into Mississippi River and vowed Saturday to cut through bureaucracy to have the link quickly and safely rebuilt between Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota.

After the aerial tour, he visited the accident scene in the central northern state of Minnesota and spoke with local officials and rescue workers, who continue working to try to find bodies believed trapped in submerged cars.

The collapse during Wednesday's afternoon rush hour left at least five people dead and more than 100 injured. Police on Saturday named eight people missing in the disaster, including a 2-year-old girl and her pregnant mother, and a Somali immigrant.

'Our message to the Twin Cities is, we want to get this bridge rebuilt as quick as possible, that we understand this is a main artery of life here, that people count on this bridge and this highway system to get to work,' Bush said.

He promised to cooperate with local and state officials and members of Congress to 'cut through that paperwork' needed to rebuild the Interstate 35 West bridge and 'to see if we can't get this bridge rebuilt in a way that not only expedites the flow of traffic, but in a way that can stand the test of time.'

Built in 1967, the bridge was undergoing repaving at the time of the collapse. Recent inspections had noted structural issues but found no imminent danger.

A team of at least 20 divers was to continue searching Sunday in the waters around the steel and concrete wreckage for victims' remains. The muddy Mississippi, strong currents and sharp-edged wreckage are making the underwater recovery work hazardous and slow.

Authorities said that at least 12 of an estimated 60 cars and other vehicles that fell from the eight-lane bridge have been pulled from the river.

Earlier Saturday, Bush pledged in his weekly radio broadcast to issue 250 million dollars in government support to rebuild the bridge.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has said it hopes to have the bridge, the key link between the downtowns of the Twin Cities on the eastern and western shores of the Mississippi, running again by the end of 2008.

The cause of the accident were still unclear. Experts from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are reviewing amateur video footage of the collapse.

NTSB Chairman Mark Resenker told journalists in Minneapolis that the bridge shifted at least 15 metres to the east on the southern end as it fell, and that investigators were focusing their attention on that location.

He said that there could have been a structural failure on the north end of the bridge, in which that failure could have transferred the load to the southern end, essentially causing a ripple effect.

Investigators were also studying photos of the bridge before the collapse.

Cracks were found in the bridge's steel in the 1990s, but the problem was addressed and did not worsen, state officials have said.

When the span was last inspected in June 2006, its state of repair was rated 4 on a scale of 0-9, making it 'structurally deficient,' authorities said. The rating signalled no imminent danger, and the ill-fated span was due for replacement in 2020 at the earliest, officials said.