I got a car! for the next 2 months anyways.. I went to several interesting places on the way home. One of which brought me back to the 35W disaster of July last year, which I've been to a couple times previously. Here's my previous articles: September 23rd, 2007 and November 25th, 2007.
Much has changed since my previous visit. They are WELL on their way to rebuilding the bridge.
You can read ALLLL about the re-construction efforts on MNdot's website: http://projects.dot.state.mn.us/35wbridge/index.html. The new bridge looks absolutely beautiful, ESPECIALLY compared to the piece of shit old one. The new bridge is a good 50% wider too.
This new bridge is schedule to open near December 24th, 2008, and it looks like they're right on schedule.
All the train tracks going underneath 35w have been removed and some smashed train cars are still left nearby.
I find this black tanker car the more eerie of the two train cars left. It's not completely smashed and the wheels are still in perfect shape, but the tank itself is slightly dented like you were squeezing a pop can. It's been destroyed with such gentle force compared to the other one. Like an elephant or a giant brushed up beside it.
Anyways, this whole scene would've been more surreal if this security guard wasn't watching me the whole time as I crossed over the police "Do Not Cross This Line" yellow banner and walked around for 10 minutes. And then all these police sirens went off and I took off running. I like that last photo, but I probably could've taken some better ones.