Did you hear about the bridge?

There's no joke here. The 35-W bridge which collapsed last August is ready to open to actual traffic next week.

Bob Collins, personality that he is on The Current, asks just how in the hell we should celebrate the occasion.

First off, I feel any sort of pomp and circumstance which tends to, in cases like this, turn in to some huge political spectacle in which persons across the political aisle bitch back and forth about who paid for all those damned balloons isn't called for here.

Sure, the reconstruction effort is nothing short of a modern day miracle in this age of red tape and political congratulation come masturbation. The reason, though, that the reconstruction happened so mind-bendingly fast is that there were truckloads of incentives (ca$h) up for grabs if they (the construction company) got the job done early. And they have. Good for them, good for us.

It's time to realize that this isn't a time to celebrate. Not at all. It's a time to reflect. It's a time to remember those thirteen folks who lost their lives last August. It's time to acknowledge the heroes from that day who aided the injured while injured themselves. It is not time, though, for self-congratulation. This should be a lesson. A lesson that when politics are set aside, things get done because people actually work together.

No one person deserves congratulations for the speedy reconstruction and no one person deserves blame for what is becoming a domino effect of failure of our state's infrastructure. Remember and learn from the past, live in the now and plan for the future because the future is what will become tomorrow's now.

Yes, MinnPics did feature a photo on August 1st from last year's Interstate 35W bridge collapse and check there frequently this week as I take a break here... maybe.

UPDATE: Today is also September 11th, read my take on that fateful day's events which I wrote two years ago.

Minneapolis becomes center of attention

Maybe it's because from the moment it happened, we were barraged with coverage. Maybe because it is so damn surreal because it's a bridge I've personally crossed countless times. Whatever the case, the magnitude of an 8-lane bridge collapsing seems bizarre to say the least. I was blown away by the screen capture above because I can't remember the last time a news story featured on the Google News front page has numbered over 3,000 news articles. This is unreal to me. Hell, I'm just a small town farm boy who lives here and works here in the Twin Cities. Minnesotans are humble by nature. Maybe it has something to do with living in the rather low-key midwest.

It seems odd to see what has been known as flyover country for so long being the center of all of the national media attention. It's odd to walk past a TV tuned to CNN and see them featuring live and archived footage from the TV stations I watch on an almost daily basis. It's even more odd that the big three networks will broadcast their national nightly news from Minneapolis as well. The rest of the local media, though, has been intense in their coverage (for the most part, exceptions being the Citadel-owned radio stations KQRS, 93X and Love 105) but strangely calming and soothing. Music-based radio stations have become less "wacky and zany" for the time being and are just more down to earth today.

As with any event of this scope, it will all pass. Tomorrow is Friday and with summers the way the way they are in Minnesota (short and busy), the weekend will bring a return to normalcy and most work-a-day folks will return to their mundane existences next week. Life goes on but people will definitely notice the absence of the I-35W bridge that carried 140,000 vehicles per day across the mighty Mississippi River.

Bridges can collapse in Minnesota too

You just can't escape a local tragedy like this.

It's not, thankfully, every day that a major freeway bridge such as the Interstate 35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, MN collapses. A freak event that happens but shouldn't. A two year inconvenience before it is rebuilt and seven lives lost as I write this.

UPDATE: (1 of 2)

It seems that, contrary to Governor Tim Pawlenty's statement that the bridge was inspected in '05 & '06 with no structural deficiencies, the St. Anthony bridge on I-35W spanning the Mississippi River only mustered a 50% rating during a 2005 assessment. The report noted that areas of the bridge, particularly the trusses, should be inspected at 6-month intervals.

I am aware that it's impossible to have all the facts available in a time of crisis such as this but the facts are trickling out now and will inevitably lead to finger pointing. Let it be and let the people with knowledge sort out the details. This isn't a time to point fingers and place blame.

UPDATE: (2 of 2)

President Bush just held what was billed as a special press conference about the tragedy in Minneapolis. Below is an excerpt containing the second and third paragraph of his speech a full 14+ hours after the collapse.

To that end, Secretary Peters is in Minneapolis, as well as Federal Highway
Administrator Capka. I spoke to Governor Pawlenty and Mayor Rybak this morning. I told them that the Secretary would be there. I told them we would help with rescue efforts, but I also told them how much we are in prayer for those who
suffered. And I thank my fellow citizens for holding up those who are suffering
right now in prayer.

We also talked about -- in the Cabinet meeting talked about the status of important pieces of legislation before the Congress. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the fact that how disappointed we are that Congress hasn't sent any spending bills to my desk. By the end of this week, members are going to be leaving for their month-long August recess. And by the time they will return, there will be less than a month before the end of the fiscal year on September the 30th, and yet they haven't passed one of the 12 spending bills that they're required to pass. If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Cabinet Secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country.

He couldn't even be bothered to make a special speech and table his petty grievances for one damn day. I, along with plenty of others, tried not to politicize this tragedy but president Bush has managed to do so my not having the common decency to be sincere and table his agenda for one single day. Would it be too much to ask to wait 24 hours before you wrongly try to pin the blame on the party opposite yours? To turn a speech offering condolences to victims and families of victims into a platform for your agenda is cruel and shows how insensitive he truly is.