[wsfii-discuss] Fwd: [ciresearchers] WiFi helps when Minneapolis bridge collapses

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via Community Informatics researchers newsgroup

Ashish

08/06/2007
Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Provides Early Test of Wi-Fi Network


In recent weeks, a City of Minneapolis team has been engaged in a planning
effort focused on Port security along the Mississippi River's path through
the heart of the city. One of the key questions they are exploring? The
impact a bridge collapse would have on the city and the region. The
intricate webs of potential cascading effects were hard to imagine. Now, our
current reality provides far too much anguishing detail about actual
scenarios the team hoped only to understand on paper at a theoretical level.

On Wednesday evening, August 1, 2007, during rush hour, the sudden collapse
of the Interstate 35W bridge dropped scores of occupied vehicles into the
river gorge below. Lives were lost. Significant injuries were sustained.
Families were changed forever. A major traffic artery was severed, and calls
for help went out. The City of Minneapolis instantly responded, and
emergency personnel did what they do best - rescued those in danger,
searched for survivors, mitigated hazardous conditions, and put a safety net
in place around the incident.

Immediately following the collapse, city emergency and community
communications centers were flooded with incoming alerts from witnesses to
the tragedy. The call takers, dispatchers and systems worked flawlessly. In
the 90 minutes following the event, the city's 911 Emergency Communications
Center handled more than 450 calls. Its 311 Nonemergency Communications
Center logged over 600 contacts. Cellular carrier systems in the region were
overloaded within 30 minutes.

I became aware of the event while at a board meeting for a local arts
organization and began to receive a steady series of calls and text messages
from family members, friends, and city personnel. Once I had located my wife
and four children, who were all in different locations away from the bridge
incident location, I went to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) beneath
City Hall.

*Ops Center Focused and on Task
*

On an average day in Minneapolis, good parts of our population are
stereotypically stoic and find it comforting to deal with stressful
situations by communicating in the third person. This indirect method of
skirting conflict serves to protect both the offending and the offended
party, but leaves much unresolved. Not the case this night. Everyone present
spoke in tones that were simultaneously intense and absolutely calm.
Communication was clear. There were no theatrics, no political overtones, no
wasted moments. The center was fully operational, and the city's leadership
team was in place within minutes. Mayor R.T. Rybak, city council president
Barbara Johnson, city council members, department heads and key emergency
and nonemergency support personnel stepped into their well-rehearsed EOC
roles. The response was well organized, purposeful and effective. Intensive
training following 9/11 was paying off.

Critical immediate priorities and longer-range objectives were woven into a
seamless plan of action. Boats were ordered into the water. Lights and
generators were dispatched to the scene. Additional rescue divers were
called in. The FAA was asked to declare a no-fly zone. The U.S. Army Corp of
Engineers was asked to steam a river crane northward. The Minnesota Twins
were asked to continue the game while traffic routing and crowd-control
solutions were put into place. And media outlets were informed of the time
and location of the first press event, in the space of one singular and
particularly concentrated moment. This was a high-performance team at work.

*Wi-Fi Put to Work*

One of the first text messages I had received on Wednesday evening was from
Joe Caldwell at USI Wireless, the city's private-sector partner responsible
for building, owning and managing the citywide wireless-broadband network
now under construction<http://w2i.com/resource_center/the_w2i_report__weekly_newsletter/news/p/newsletterId_94/id_98>.
When Joe realized the cellular networks were jammed, he immediately opened
the wireless network to all users. The network is approximately 20 percent
complete, and fortunately the coverage area includes both the central
business district and surrounding neighborhoods. *USI Wireless had attracted
almost 1,000 customers to date in the relatively small area where it is now
available. Wednesday evening more than 6,000 users took advantage of the
open access. The network served an important public service that night.
*
As the event unfolded, a number of immediate potential uses of the wireless
network became apparent. They included opening an alternate path to
electronic communication and information for city personnel; extending the
Wi-Fi network infrastructure to fully blanket the scene of the bridge
collapse for emergency personnel on-site connectivity; implementing live
multiple perspective camera coverage of the scene for EOC and Command Post
uses; and providing community links to City of Minneapolis resources,
Hospital Emergency Coordination Units, State of Minnesota Department of
Transportation (MNDOT) traffic routing information, Red Cross Blood Bank
collection points, and local and national news outlets. On a longer-term
basis, it could be used to enable ongoing monitoring and coordination of the
rebuilding effort.

USI Wireless's and other technology and support resources mirrored the
city's response. Kurt Lange, USIW's executive in charge of network
construction and operations had already directed crews to begin loading
trucks with additional radios and installation equipment. His team only
needed to know what the city wanted them to do first. The trucks were
dispatched to the scene, and USI Wireless crews began to design and plan the
desired incident area network extension, from the vantage point of a bridge
parallel and adjacent to the Interstate 35W bridge, which was fully intact
but had been temporarily closed to traffic. It was comforting to know this
bridge shared the same warning label applied to its fallen neighbor. The
only good news is that it was being inspected once again by MNDOT engineers,
as we stood watching on the bridge deck. The USI Wireless team completed
construction of the extended network segment needed to provide the desired
coverage and high capacity within 16 hours of the initial collapse.

The field conditions were far from ideal, but the installation teams worked
through each obstacle with creativity and a sense of urgency. The strangest
incident occurred on Thursday afternoon. The sun was intense and the air was
still. The only breeze we enjoyed was delivered by the occasional USAF
helicopter scanning the scene or ferrying high-ranking officials. A very
professional and pleasant EMT was checking on the health and wellness of
everyone on the bridge, insuring we had adequate water and food. We were
grateful for his consideration. It was shocking to us, therefore, when he
was arrested soon after for impersonating an emergency worker. The arresting
Officer noted that he recognized him as the same man who had appeared at the
scene the previous evening as a Minnesota National Guard soldier.
Apparently, if you are going to successfully impersonate an officer, you
need to be more consistent in your approach. Security procedures were
immediately tightened up.

*Multiple Agencies, Cameras Use Network
*

While the network expansion was being completed, City Business Information
Services Department and USI Wireless personnel configured network access for
City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, State of Minnesota and federal agency
use. I had no idea we have so many federal agencies. The City of Minneapolis
Mobile Unified Command Center, which was located on the river bank and on a
barge serving as a Mississippi River hub for divers and city, county, state
and federal emergency personnel, was the first to log on.

Multiple high-quality pan tilt zoom cameras were quickly located, and
preparations for video installation and programming continued throughout the
day on Thursday. City of Minneapolis and USI Wireless received full
cooperation and support from a huge list of participants. Stuart DeVaan, of
Implex.net and Mike Moon of MoonCom lent cameras until the overnight arrival
of video equipment, donated by Panasonic, arrived via counter-to-counter
air. Generators were made available and fueled. Permission was immediately
granted for use of city, state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assets
needed for device mounting.

The customary best practices associated with coordinating the use of such
assets is a lengthy and complex process. These processes are important and
are designed to ensure the long-term integrity of in-place infrastructure
such as lighting systems and electrical grids. Month-long processes were
reduced to two-minute conversations. People were smiling a lot when they
were solving problems together. The only times smiles seemed to disappear
were when they looked over at the bridge that wasn't in one piece any
longer. Gaining trust among a large number of players with diverse interests
takes time. During the early hours of this disaster, it was very clear that
the time and effort spent during the past year building those relationships
became an essential building block enabling a rapid response to the issues
at hand.

The short answer to literally every request was, "Yes, would yesterday be
soon enough?" We needed power at the riverbank from the closest point. The
University of Minnesota had three electricians and pipefitters on site
within 20 minutes with tools in hand to extend electrical service from one
of their buildings to the banks of the Mississippi River. The City
Coordinator's Office, Police Department, Fire Department, Business
Information Services, Public Works and numerous other personnel provided
assets, vehicles, materials and people to assist around the clock in
completing the incident network. Minneapolis Police Department and GIS
technology specialists made all on-site agencies aware of the availability
of the network and began to transfer electronic maps and logistical
information to the field the moment the network was live.

The first incident cameras covering the Interstate 35W bridge were brought
online Thursday with an additional perspective added on Friday. The final
temporary camera was then replaced with a permanent unit on Saturday
afternoon. These cameras are being used to monitor, coordinate and
streamline rescue and salvage efforts. While the critical nature of the
response required installation teams to initially take full advantage of
short term solutions such as generator power and tripod mounted devices, the
design goal has been to move toward permanent installation methods as
quickly as possible. Permanent power is now being run to all radio and
camera devices so generator power can be eliminated. Video server technology
was installed in the Data Center and is now being brought online in tandem
with additional remote-access video recording equipment. These efforts will
be complete in the next several days, making the installation consistent
with desired installation methods and longer-term City goals.

The rescue and salvage efforts will conclude in due time. They will be done
respectfully and completely. The rebuilding process will then begin and is
expected to require 18 to 24 months of diligent work. MNDOT has already
requested submissions from qualified contractors and hopes to move to the
design/build contracting procurement phase as early as September 2007.
Availability of broadband and video technology at the site will hopefully
play a role in monitoring, coordinating and streamlining the process of
rebuilding a new Interstate 35W bridge across the Mississippi River in
Minneapolis.

If our elected officials and city, county, state and federal staff, and our
community can sustain the spirit of teamwork that has been experienced this
week in Minneapolis, throughout the rebuilding effort, I promise you, that
new bridge will serve to connect this city, on many levels, for decades to
come.

*James Farstad is President of rClient in Minneapolis and, for the past two
years, the city's principal consultant on its broadband-wireless
implementation. He moderates the Service-Provider Executives and
Local-Government CIOs Roundtable at the W2i Digital Cities Convention. *
!



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