TheBanyanTree: The Bridge

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Even though the day started out chilly, as the sun got higher in the sky,
the air grew warmer and the sky was a perfect blue.  It was perfect bike
riding weather – not too warm, but not too cold either.

I never really know where I’m going until I get my bike onto the bike rack
on my car and start thinking about possibilities.  There are so many bike
trails in the metro and around Minnesota.  Which one should I take?

I decided to head west, towards the big city of Minneapolis, towards my alma
mater, the University of Minnesota.  Then I thought, if I go there, I can
easily ride my bike to the 10th Avenue Bridge, which they opened up for
viewing the 35W bridge collapse.

And that’s what I did.

I rode my bike along Mississippi River Blvd as it’s known in St. Paul.  Then
it turns into East River Rd in Minneapolis.  But no matter what its name, it
’s a beautiful ride along the tree lined bluffs of the Mississippi River.

After I crossed Franklin Avenue, I’m in the U of M territory, the Gopher
Nation, which isn’t much of a nation, because we have a lousy football team.
I passed the Ronald McDonald House, which is home to sick children who are
getting treatment at the U of M hospitals and their families.  I passed frat
houses and really awful looking student housing, sub-standard houses that
are owned by unscrupulous landlords who can charge whatever rent they want
because these houses are so close to the U.

There are new dorms everywhere.  The age of living on campus is in full
swing.  When I was a student, most of us were commuters, there were very few
dorms or interest in living in dorms.

There are new classroom buildings everywhere.  They’re building a new
football stadium for the Gopher Nation.  There’s a new Alumni Center.  I
never rode my bike here as a student back in the 70s, I was a commuter, so
it was a funny thought, thinking me, at 52 years old, finally riding my bike
through the U of M campus.

At the very edge of campus along University Avenue is a small gas station
and next to the gas station is the 10th Avenue bridge.  I had to make a stop
in the gas station, because my digital camera’s batteries were dead.  I
always grab my camera when I run out of the house, but never remember to
check the batteries.  I bought the batteries and then walked my bike towards
the bridge.

There were people and traffic everywhere.  If you want to see the bridge and
drive over towards the U, there aren’t many places to park.  If you do find
a spot, then it will be a long, long walk to the 10th Avenue bridge.  It’s
almost better to take the bus or ride your bike over to the bridge.

This bridge ran right next to the 35W bridge.  This is a road kind of
bridge, not a freeway bridge.  While I was going to school, I lived on the
West Bank and would take this bridge to visit my friend, Carolyn, who lived
in these old (built in the late 1800s) railroad employee apartment buildings
right by that small gas station.

The 10th Avenue bridge was set up for two lanes of traffic and then the
other two lanes were set up for pedestrian traffic to view the 35W bridge.

Even though I’ve seen the images a million times on TV, it was weird when I
actually saw it with my own eyes.  As I moved down the bridge over the
Mississippi, I couldn’t believe this bridge just came tumbling down.  It
didn’t make sense.

They’ve recovered all the bodies – just 13 of them, amazing not more people
were killed since it occurred at the height of rush hour.  The cars have
been removed.  The bridge decking of the span which lies in the river has
been removed.  They were working on dismantling the iron girders while I was
watching.

I could see on the collapsed span on the south side of the bridge where the
workers were doing the patching on the deck.  A porta-potty still remains,
crushed between two sections of freeway.

I snapped my pictures and then walked back to the north side of the bridge
and then got back on University Avenue.  Back through the U, where frat boys
were tossing a football around on their frat house’s lawn.  Back pass the
hole which will eventually be the new Gopher Nation stadium.  Back to East
River Road.

Back away from the past and the present and the future.

Only 13 died, but that doesn’t matter to their families who mourn them.
Others were severely injured and their lives have changed forever.  The
bridge collapse has changed traffic patterns around the Cities and will do
so for a long time, even after the new bridge is built.

It was like the Twin Cities’ very mini 9/11, except there were no
terrorists, just possibly a bad design and inadequate maintenance.  But the
same feelings are there – How could this happen?

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can
steal.
~Author Unknown