Minn., victims still struggling after bridge fall

THE PROJECT MANAGER: Peter Sanderson was in India working on a massive new bridge over the Arabian Sea when he heard a freeway bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis.

"I had been there for two years," said Sanderson, now project manager for the building of the new I-35W bridge. "That was the day I decided to come home."

Sanderson, 60, had long maintained that the U.S. wasn't doing enough to improve its aging transportation infrastructure. Here was a concrete example, and Sanderson _ who'd spent his career doing civil engineering projects around the world _ figured it would mean new opportunities in his line of work.

He was right. Two days after the collapse, the president of Colorado-based Flatiron Construction called Sanderson, who himself led the company from 1993 to 2000. Flatiron was planning to bid on the reconstruction of the bridge, and its executives hoped Sanderson would lead the team.

Today, a skeleton of the new bridge spans the river where the old one stood. It could open by September, a time frame Sanderson said is unparalleled in his 40 years in the heavy construction business.

"Every day has brought an unanticipated wrinkle. Every hour," he said.

But every hour has also brought the bridge closer to completion, pushed along by a construction crew that at times exceeded 500 workers. They've kept to a grueling, 24/7 pace, with work only slowing for a few hours on major holidays.

But Friday, work will come to a complete stop for six hours. From 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sanderson said, there will only be silence.

_By Patrick Condon, Associated Press writer.