"The City, the River, the Bridge" – Conference October 10, 2008

The rebuilt I-35W/St. Anthony Falls bridge was completed just two weeks ago, but the tasks of rebuilding after the disaster of August 1, 2007 is not complete. News reports indicate continued debate over issues associated with public infrastructure. Victims and their families continue to deal with the aftermath. Businesses in that area of town continue to adjust to new traffic patterns. Recreational users of the riverfront continue to have to work around the crash site, as trails and parkways are not yet stitched together.

As planners, politicians, and the public begin to envision life after the new bridge, it is an appropriate time for the University of Minnesota to convene a public discussion on that aftermath: What lessons have been learned from the disaster and the response? What policy and planning changes have occurred, or are likely to occur? What are likely to be the long-term consequences for the City? For its relationship with the Mississippi River? In ten years, what will we see as opportunities from this effort that we're glad we took, or, alternately, that we'll wish we'd taken?

Cosponsored by the University Metropolitan Consortium

8:15-8:30 a.m. Welcome - E. Thomas Sullivan
8:30-10 a.m. "Rethinking the City" - Judith Martin, Roger Miller and Tom Fisher; comment by Steve Berg
10:15-11:45 a.m. "The River" - John Anfinson, Pat Nunnally, and Deb Swackhamer; comment by Paul Labovitz
Lunch - please register at 626-5054 or [email protected]
12-1:15 p.m. Lunchtime presentation by Eugenie Birch: "Rebuilding Urban Places After a Disaster"
1:30-3 p.m. "Civil Society" - Heather Dorsey, Cathy French, Andrew Furco, and Mark Pedelty; comment by Annette Atkins
3-3:15 p.m. Capstone Comment by Robert Bruininks

Official Website: http://www.ias.umn.edu/CityRiverBridge.php