The message written in steel returned to the Interstate 35W Bridge Remembrance Garden, more than a month after someone pried off two dozen letters from the monument to victims of the 2007 bridge collapse.

The "survivor wall" at the monument in downtown Minneapolis was vandalized on Aug. 3, two days after its dedication. No arrests have been made.

On Monday, workers reinstalled the stainless steel letters that spell out, "Our lives are not only defined by what happens, but by how we act in the face of it, not only by what life brings us, but by what we bring to life. Selfless actions and compassion create enduring community out of tragic events."

Tadd Kreun, the project's landscape architect, said thicker, coarse-threaded studs and stronger adhesives are now holding the letters to the wall. Police have also installed a surveillance camera directly across the street from the memorial, said city spokesman Casper Hill.

Hill said the repairs cost $14,500, which will come out of maintenance money for the site.

The memorial, designed by Minneapolis landscape architect Tom Oslund, includes a row of 13 vertical steel I-beams, one for each person who died in the collapse. The names of 171 survivors of the collapse are engraved on a stone wall, which has a sheet of water flowing over it.

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Mark Ihrke, from Designer Signs, began restoring the letters to the I-35W Remembrance Garden, vandalized less than two days after its dedication.

Tips about the missing letters should go to the property crimes division in the department's First Precinct at 612-673-5701.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482