Re: last post -- family and cohorts are okay. To give you an idea of the scope of this event, how important the artery is, and and how the outage screws things up, here are some comparisons. If you're familiar with Boston: Tobin Bridge. A tunnel collapse isn't really a valid comparison, given costs and time to rebuild. Chicago: the Skyway.

As you can see, there are other ways to get across the river, but also consider that a major shipping lane is clogged up (just upriver is the lock at St. Anthony Falls).