Bridge Collapse Aftermath

Andie Whitaker, left, and Lena Zethraus put up a sign they made in honor of the victims of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse Monday, Aug. 6, 2007, in Minneapolis. At least seven people were killed and more than 100 injured when the bridge plummeted more than 60 feet into the river. Six people are unaccounted for.

Vehicles are strewn among the wreckage of the Interstate 35W bridge, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007, in Minneapolis. The span over the Mississippi River collapsed on Wednesday.

People look at the Interstate 35W bridge collapse from the reopened Stone Arch pedestrian bridge in St. Paul, Minn. Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. The Minneapolis skyline can be seen in background.

Robin Schroeder, a co-worker of Patrick Holmes, who died in the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, hugs Patrick's aunt, Nancy Rettner, at his visitation outside the Holcomb-Henry-Boom funeral home in Shoreview, Minn. Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007.

President Bush, center, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007, in Minneapolis after touring the collapsed bridge site by air and on foot.

Spectators gathered on the ruins of an old mill along the Mississippi River looking at the Interstate 35W freeway that collapsed Wednesday during rush hour.

Rescue workers on a barge and in boats resume the search near the section of the I-35W bridge that collapsed. Officials caution that locating the missing will take time. "We were surprised that we didn't have more people seriously injured and killed," Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said. "I think it was something of a miracle."

Cars that were traveling on the I-35W bridge when it collapsed have been marked by officials.

Local churches, such as St. Olaf Catholic Church, held prayer services.

Ron Engebretsen and Jessica Engebretsen held a press conference to talk about Sherry Engebretsen, 60, one of the four people identified as having been killed during the collapse. Her husband said he does not know what compelled her to take a route across the bridge. It was a drive she normally avoided, he said, in part because she disliked the frequent construction delays on Interstate 35W.

The families of two of the others who died from the collapse released their photographs -- Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, an immigrant from Mexico, left, the father of four children; and Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage, Minn.

Florentina Gutierres, left, and her 8-year-old son Christopher along with Jose Alvarado, right, pause at a makeshift memorial for Artemio Trinidad-Mena Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, in Minneapolis. Trinidad-Mena was one of the victims killed in the I-35W bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi River on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the collapse, seen here in aerial view, has provoked questions about the safety record of the bridge, which had been declared "structurally deficient" as early as 1990. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs, but said the state was never warned that the I-35W bridge needed to be closed or immediately repaired.

More than 70,000 bridges across the country are rated structurally deficient like the I-35W bridge, and engineers estimate repairing them all would take at least a generation and cost more than $188 billion. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse, many states have stepped up their bridge inspections. Here, bridge inspector Paul Dlugopolski examines a steel girder bridge along I-696 highway in Southfield, Mich.

Attention is focused on Minnesota. A local bookstore offers sympathy with its sign, and practical advice on its Web site, encouraging fellow Minnesotans "to bike and walk to destinations to help ease traffic congestion."