Regis grad witnessed collapse

Ran on Friday, August 3, 2007

Regis grad witnessed collapse

By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff

A flat tire often causes frustration, but Tony Wagner was thankful for his co-worker's car trouble Wednesday night, when he was delayed just long enough to narrowly avoid the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
The 21-year-old Eau Claire native and 2004 Regis graduate lives and goes to school in Minneapolis, where he is a student at Augsburg College. He left work at First Commercial Bank to drop off a co-worker who had gotten a flat tire before work that morning.
Wagner was on I-35W trying to rush home to meet friends and then go to the Minnesota Twins baseball game.
As he drove, Wagner suddenly couldn't figure out what was happening on the highway ahead of him. He slammed on the brakes of his Acura Integra, 200 feet - and, he estimated, 30 to 60 seconds - before driving onto the bridge.
"It looked like a giant sandstorm," Wagner said of his approach to the Mississippi River crossing. "I pulled my car off (the road) and took another bridge home."
During the rest of the ride, Wagner caught glimpses of the I-35W bridge and realized what had happened. The 1967 truss-style span collapsed into the river shortly after 6 p.m.
"I wanted to get a hold of all of my friends and make sure they were all OK," he said. "It turns out I was the closest one to the bridge by a long shot."
Deciding to skip the Twins game to help keep the roads less congested, Wagner and his friends watched rescuers from his balcony about a block from the bridge.
They were ready to help if needed. "I wanted to be able to do whatever was asked of me and help however I can," he said.
Wagner said he could hear police, fire and rescue crews working late into the night.
Once the news got out about the bridge, calls flooded cell phones, shutting down circuits and restricting communication. Wagner was able to leave a phone message for his parents, Vicki and Steve Wagner, of Eau Claire letting them know he was safe. They spoke about 90 minutes later.
As Vicki Wagner watched TV coverage of the tragedy, she recognized the area as her son's neighborhood.
"We were concerned," Vicki Wagner said by phone on Thursday. "We have two kids in college; it's really scary when they are gone."
Vicki Wagner said she doesn't think it was a coincidence that her son and the bridge share a name. The bridge originally was called St. Anthony's Bridge; Tony's full name is Anthony.
"Somebody was watching over him," she said.
Tony Wagner, who is majoring in business finance, accounting and economics, is working this summer as a commercial loan administrator. He wasn't sure when or how he would make it to work Thursday.
"All the major roads I'd normally take are closed," he said at 11 a.m., four hours after he usually arrives at work.
Bridge repairs, which started about a month ago, had restricted traffic lanes and at times closed the bridge entirely. Two lanes in each direction were open when the bridge gave way.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.