Thursday, August 02, 2007

In the news

Last night as the world knows a major bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. All is well with family and friends as far as we know. I didn't even believe the hubster when he told me about the collapse until I saw it for myself on the news. Too weird. Right now I am selfishly grateful I don't work in the city. It is going to be a nightmare for years traffic wise. I have a feeling a lot of people will be discovering the joys of mass transit. As horrible as this tragedy is, in the long run it will force commuters to consider public transportation. And once they start and given the amount of time that bridge will be out of commission I would bet they don't return to driving.
So a positive thing will potentially come out of this horrible event. I think this will open a lot of eyes on how critical mass transit is to a metropolis.

11 comments:

graymama said...

It is such a relief to hear that you and your family are safe :-)

J said...

This morning has been nothing but calling and emailing friends & family to make sure everyone's ok. (they're fine). Working in downtown Minneapolis, we did a head count first thing this morning to make sure everyone was accounted for. Really made me wonder how many other companies were doing the same thing, and coming up short. So sad.

Kell said...

So glad to hear that you and your friends are doing ok. Thank you for posting this morning because we were worried about you all. Take care.

Jay said...

Well I WISH that tragedies like this would highlight the need for mass transit AND the crummy condition of bridges all across this country. In Houston there are some 50+ bridges listed as "substandard but usable" alone.

I'm amazed that there weren't many many more people killed. I was watching it last night in disbelief.

Anonymous said...

I'm totally out of the loop 'cause I don't have a TV and didn't get on the net to check the news last night.

Guess I've got some catching up to do!

Happy to hear your loved ones are safe.

Peggy said...

I'm glad that you and your loved ones weren't on the bridge. I have a host of cousins that still live in the Twin Cities area and I was grateful to get e-mails from them all to say that they were okay.

Quite dramatic, huh?

I loved hearing all the Minnesota accents on the telly. Made me homesick.

Tink said...

I'm still in shock over this. But I am SO SO SO glad you and hubby are OK! ((HUG))

Anonymous said...

Glad you are okay!

Scott
sardonic-bomb.com

sassybead said...

You and Heather's family were the first ones I thought of when I heard what had happened. I'm so relieved to hear that everyone is OK.

I'll let you know on that transportation issue. They are getting ready to close several northbound lanes of the main freeway into Seattle. They are encouraging everyone to take public transportation for the next five weeks. We'll see how long people continue to use public transportation when the repairs are finished!

Betty said...

Glad to hear you and your loved ones are ok. I hope this will prompt people in all big cities to use public transportation, but I'll bet that bridge will be rebuilt within a year. The Republicans are going to have their big convention there, and we can't ask them to take the bus, can we?

J-Funk said...

Glad you and hubby and family are all ok. Our friends and family are ok too. Also glad you put into words what I was thinking - this horrible tragedy may provide some long-term benefits if people reconsider their commutes because of it. AND increase willingness to fund bridge and road maintenance.