Bridges in the News

There are reports today that the authorities have closed an interstate highway bridge near Memphis. The reason given is rapid settlement at one of the piers. I will state unequivocally that had this problem been detected a month ago that bridge would not have been closed. Although the closed bridge carries I-40 across the river, a similar bridge for I-55 is available near by, so the inconvenience to traffic will be minimized. The report also notes that the I-40 bridge is expected to be open in a few days. We will watch this one.

Back in Minneapolis the state and city came to a remarkably fast resolution on the issue of light rail for the replacement I-35W bridge. Of interest is the fact that Federal money cannot be used to fund the structural upgrade light rail will necessitate. In any event what we should learn from this is that politicians of differing parties and differing priorities can work together when the stakes are high enough.

Locally, a new bridge, total cost in excess of a billion bucks, opened on I-680 across the Carquinez Straits. As near as I can tell it will save a few minutes off the commutes of about 2% of the region's population. Needless to say, this project took many years and ended up costing a lot more than originally estimated. What I find particularly interesting is the hoopla surrounding this event with the predictable speeches by the predictable politicians. Not to be a wet blanket, or even a cynic, but I hearby predict that the bridge will be obsolete within ten years.

Minnesota has it right, do some things to improve mass transit in the rush to provide more freeways. There has to be a limit to space available to accommodate the automobile. Look at large cities all over the world and they are moving towards keeping motor vehicles out of heavily developed areas. There is a limit to sprawl development, too. We haven't reached it yet, but we'll be there sooner than you think.