6 Deadliest Bridge Collapses In US History: Atlanta Highway Reopens After Bridge Repair

A month-and-a-half since the collapse of a bridge on Interstate 85 (I-85) in Atlanta that compelled around 250,000 commuters to find new routes to work and school, the highway reopened Saturday.

Crews worked day and night since March 30 to rebuild the overpass bridge that collapsed when a blaze beneath the bridge burned hot enough to cause the overpass of steel and concrete to fall down, reports said.

Monday morning would mark the first rush hour in about six weeks in which commuters could use the I-85. The highway reopened to traffic Saturday evening, one day after the northbound lanes were open for public, local reports said.

Read: Chicago Lawmakers Want To Rename Long Stretch Of Interstate 55 As Barack Obama Expressway

There have been several bridge collapses in the history of the U.S. and they have had more serious consequences.

Here are seven of the deadliest bridge collapses in the U.S. history.

In what brought the U.S.' crumbling infrastructure to the forefront, on August 1, 2007, the Interstate -35 (I-35) westbound bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

The major safety concerns found in this investigation included insufficient quality control procedures at the firm responsible for designing bridges. There was also a lack of guidance for bridge owners with regard to the placement of construction loads on bridges, as well as inadequate use of technology, among others, according to the accident report prepared by the National Transportation Safety Board.

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In September 2001, the Queen Isabella Causeway in Texas collapsed after a string of barges driven off course by currents crashed into a bridge support. In the tragedy, eight motorists died, when their vehicles plunged 85 feet into the channel. The crash also had a huge economic impact on the area as the causeway that collapsed was the only bridge connecting the popular beach destination South Padre Island with the mainland, reports said.

In October, 1989, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked San Francisco, causing a number of the region's structures to collapse. One of the structures included a portion of the upper tier of the 1.6 mile long Cypress Street Viaduct, which was a raised two-tier, multi-lane freeway, as well as a section of Interstate 880. Due to the earthquake, there were 67 deaths, of which 42 died due to the viaduct's collapse, according to Time.

In April 1987, a bridge on the New York State Thruway near Amsterdam, collapsed, killing 10 people. The collapse was the first in the Thruway's 33-year history and the worst in the region, the New York Times reported.

One of the U.S.' deadliest bridge collapses occurred in 1980, when a 1,000-foot section of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after getting hit by a freighter during a storm. 35 people died in the tragedy and the bridge was eventually demolished so a safer version of the bridge with concrete barriers could be built. The new Sunshine Skyway opened in 1987, reports said.

In 1967, 46 people were killed when Silver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed, submerging 75 vehicles. The tragedy occurred during rush hour.