My heart goes out to all those involved in the bridge collapse tragedy in Minneapolis. I'm really stunned by this ... I'm almost at a loss for words.
This tragedy hits kind of close to home in a couple of ways. First of all, I've driven across that bridge, although it has been 27 years now that I did so, and when I heard the news, I got that cold, hard knot feeling in my stomach as the memory of crossing that bridge those many long years ago came rushing back to me.
The other way is that we have a couple of bridges here in Seattle that are in danger of catastrophic failure if the conditions are right, which I have posted about in the past - the Evergreen Point floating bridge, which is a major connection between the communities on the east side of Lake Washington and Seattle, and the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which is a major north - south arterial located on the Seattle waterfront.
Both bridges carry vast numbers of cars on a daily basis, even though it is a known fact that either (or both) could collapse in another major earthquake or huge wind storm, yet our local government officials are dithering about what to do about both, and how to pay for it, wasting both time and money on "study" after "study", and accomplishing virtually nothing in the process.
In light of this tragedy that happened in Minneapolis, I think it is time for our local politicians, from the governor and state legislature down to the various city councils and mayors to come together and find common ground to a solution for these two bridges in our area before we have a similar tragedy befall us.
Again, my heart goes out to all those who have been affected by this tragedy.
