Drivers flexible in choosing routes after bridge collapse

View of Interstate 94 west of footbridge
The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge prompted transporation officials to widen Interstate 94 through Prospect Park and Cedar Riverside in Minneapolis to handle the detour. Traffic now runs on what used to be the shoulders.
MPR Photo/Tim Nelson

A new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota takes a look at how traffic patterns --and travel times-- have changed since the 35W bridge fell.

It was one year ago this Friday that the bridge collapsed into the Mississippi. It carried an estimated 140,000 vehicles every day, and its collapse forced thousands of people to find new ways to get to their destinations.

MPR's Cathy Wurzer talked with David Levinson, a professor in the University of Minnesota's Department of Civil Engineering and Center for Transportation Studies. He was the principal investigator on the traffic study.

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