Bridges
I am presently watching the news reporting on the horrific bridge collapse in Minneapolis. It is rather numbing to see a structure that I have driven across many, many times twisted and crumbled in the Mississippi River.
I used to live just south of downtown Minneapolis and my brother and his family still do. While the odds are overwhelming that no one I know was involved in the collapse, the fact that I can't reach my family members by cell phone has me slightly anxious. It's odd how in 2007 we have grown so used to being able to 'reach out and touch someone' that when technology fails it sends a shudder down the spine.
It was only a couple months ago that
I mentioned another historical bridge collapse that happened very near to another former residence. Strange coincidence. Oy. But given my track record, hopefully the Hadley Overpass will get rebuilt soon.
I'm not really joking. If this episode demonstrates anything at all, it is the need to maintain civil infrastructure. It's just too damn bad that it takes tragedies like breached levies and collapsed bridges to remind people that nothing lasts forever.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with my brother. He was with the kids at
Valley Fair south of the Twin Cities and had not even heard the news. It's sad to think that at least a few people will not get similar phone calls.