At exactly 8:24 a.m., 570 feet of the 1,800-foot long bridge— the draw span, the East Tower span and the entire East Tower— collapsed. Along with the twisted wreckage, Zimmerman and Cunningham fell 150 feet into the river. Cunningham only had a few bruises and a broken toe; Zimmerman had a broken back, nearly losing his ability to walk. Seeing the impending doom, two teachers abandoned their car on the East Tower truss span, which failed moments after their retreat. The Rhode Island only nicked its prow.

The wreckage blocked the river, part of the Intracoastal Waterway, until September, crippling port traffic to Norfolk County and the cities of Norfolk, South Norfolk, Portsmouth and Berkley. In January of 1940, the bridge reopened: the bridge was hauled out of the water, repaired and returned to its supports. This marked the first time the bridge had to close due to an accident.

Throughout the years, countless ships have banged into the Jordan Bridge, crinkling most of the steel around the waterline. The draw mechanism, unique by age and location, fails every few years, leading to a custom repair job at the neighboring Norfolk Naval Shipyard and a discussion on whether to replace or close the aging span. The bridge links two relatively residential streets and only averages 6,000 cars a day, far too few to warrant replacing or further repairing the bridge if anything else breaks. But the bridge is still there.