Saturday, October 1, 2011

A couple of news items

I must be getting old (but it still beats the alternative).  I remember when it you could build a pretty good bridge across the Ohio River for $20 million. Now, that's what it's going to cost to repair the Sherman Minton Bridge at Louisville.

And it's going to take six months.

The governors of Kentucky and Indiana had a news conference to discuss repair plans for the bridge, which handles 70,000 to 90,000 vehicles a day. One thing that struck me was they said the repairs should last 20 years. I don't know what happens 21 or 22  years from now. They're having a hard enough time getting their ongoing new bridge or bridges project off the ground, so it sounds like they need to start planning soon for building another one or doing something about Sherman Minton for the longer term.

Meanwhile, the ferry service that was begun to help commuters avoid or prevent traffic jams will close in two weeks if it doesn't get  more riders. Apparently, a good number of its customers are joy riders. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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Go fishing, walk on a docked barge, fall in, wait to be rescued ... not fun in chilly fall weather.