Repairs to vandalized bridge memorial begin Monday

35W bridge memorial vandalized
After being vandalized, the remaining letters from the 35W bridge memorial have been removed until the missing letters can be replaced. Repairs will be made to the memorial Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.
MPR Photo/Brandt Williams

Work begins 9 a.m. Monday to repair the I-35W memorial on West River Parkway in Minneapolis.

The I-35W Rememberance Garden and "survivor wall" was dedicated on Aug. 1. The wall holds messages from survivors of the 2007 bridge collapse and victims' families.

Vandals pried 23 characters off the memorial two days after the dedication. Officials ordered the rest of the letters removed the next day as police investigated.

No arrests have been made, but tomorrow, workers will re-install the memorial's steel letters. The message will again read, "Our lives are not only defined by what happens, but by how we act in the face of it, not only by what life brings us, but by what we bring to life."

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