Tuesday, August 07, 2007
It May Have Been Ugly.......
But we sure do seem to miss it now.
It's been a week since the 35W bridge collapsed. It's taken this long for me to sort things out and get my brain around the fact it's gone. I was in the middle of fetching a relative from the airport. I'd not been listening to any sort of media since about 5:45pm as I was in a headlong rush to make all of my destinations that night. The kids were watching a DVD at home, so there were no news reports on TV to see. Just as we were headed out the door to get to the airport, the phone rang, and it was our eldest son's girlfriend wondering about "the bridge that fell by the river." In the back of my mind, I went "huh?" and dismissed it. While waiting for a stop light, my wife, who was behind me in another car waved frantically, and yelled "TURN ON THE RADIO!" I was stunned when I heard what had happened. As we sat on Post road, the local area here to watch aircraft from, and waited for the relatives' plane to arrive, we could see smoke from the bridge's area rising in the horizon. We could also hear ATC calling to helicopters over the crash scene. It was all pretty eerie.
Since then, the citizens in this burg have behaved themselves for the most part. They've already adjusted to the new traffic patterns, it would seem. Rush hour traffic hasn't been as snarled as I thought it might be, although it's still summer vacation season. The University, is pretty much shut down for the summer with very little activity. The true test, I believe, will be after labor day, when all the schools go into full swing and most people wrap up summer activities. Then things will probably be a bit more hectic around here during drive time.
The initial shock seems to be wearing off, and people are starting to ask "Just what the hell happened here?" And the answer, since the investigation isn't complete yet, is "Who the hell knows?" The NTSB, one of the world's premiere forensic investigation organizations, is on the scene. These folks are some of the best we have. As an example, during airliner crash investigations, they figured out a way to tell if a indicator lamp from an instrument panel was on or off when damaged. That's pretty good. If anyone can figure this mess out, it'll be them.
Our LT. Gov., Carol Molneau, also happens to be the head of MnDOT. She was appointed by our Gov Tim Pawlenty as one way to "shrink government." Never mind the fact that her main back ground is in farming. Old Tim figured that somehow, she'd make a dandy transportation commissioner. I've a feeling that he appointed her not so much for her knowledge about things like roads and bridges but more for being a reliable rubber stamp who has, for the most part, done what he wants her to do. She's been in office for about 5 1/2 years now, during which, several reports on this bridge were submitted, and decisions made about what to do about them. We've gotten to the point where they're starting to ask "Who knew what and when did they know it?" I've a feeling she's got some questions to answer. Although Pawlenty in standing behind her (The rotten tomatoes will hit her first?) I've a feeling her days as head of MnDOT may be coming to an end. She's a former state senator with a pretty caustic personality who made a lot of enemies and burned a lot of bridges during her time there. Her confirmation has never been brought to a floor vote because she simply does not have enough support in the Senate. A gentleman's agreement between the Gov and the Senate leadership keeping her nomination in the committee is the only thing that's keeping her in office.
I was talking with my wife during the drive into work this morning. She told me that one of her co-workers was on her way to South Minneapolis on the evening of the 1st. Her toddler, supposedly reliably toilet trained, thoroughly messed his pants in a convincing manner. It took her a few extra minutes to clean things up. Afterwards, running late, she headed to her destination via her usual route, Southbound I35W. As she approached the river, traffic came to a standstill. She couldn't see the bridge, and didn't know what happened. After she spotted smoke, she turned on the radio and found out about the bridge. Figured she missed it by 2 minutes at the most. Because they were past the last exit before the river, there was no possible way to go any further. After sitting for a time, cars around her eventually started making u-turns and headed to the nearest exit upstream. Since then, she's decided to make some job and education changes in her life she'd been putting off. She also reports her husband has been much more loving and attentive.
We humans tend to put ourselves into "autopilot mode" as we go through life, and take things like seeing our kids and spouses after work for granted. That sounds pretty silly at face value. I mean, think about it. See my spouse again after work? Why wouldn't I see her again after work? Well, I can think of five concrete examples up here where people DIDN'T see their spouses/kids after work, with eight more possible examples, depending on what they find when they start pulling the debris out of the water. I've harped about this subject before. Not taking your loved ones for granted, and smelling the roses. But I'm bringing it up again because we're all creatures of habit, and tend to slip back to our old ways after a while. I'm one of the worlds worst offenders and I need to constantly remind myself about what the really "important things" are. I hope you think about that too.
"Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." Chief Seattle
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"It'll" never happen to me
But it does. The folks that died on that bridge, I'm sure, had the same mindset as they watched other tragedy's around the world.
The truth is, anything can happen to any of us, at any time. Work, play, material possessions....they'll always be there.
The Roses Won't.
But it does. The folks that died on that bridge, I'm sure, had the same mindset as they watched other tragedy's around the world.
The truth is, anything can happen to any of us, at any time. Work, play, material possessions....they'll always be there.
The Roses Won't.
Drove across that bridge every day for 5 years. Spooky as well as being a terrible tragedy.
Now we're hearing that pigeon sh*t might have contributed to weakening the beams which seems to me like something that could have been dealt with.
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Now we're hearing that pigeon sh*t might have contributed to weakening the beams which seems to me like something that could have been dealt with.
# posted by 
: Thursday, August 23, 2007 8:24:00 PM
: Thursday, August 23, 2007 8:24:00 PM << Home
