30 levels in Bridge Building from Eluko79

 

From Luke, aka eluko79: "Just in case the folks at the MnDot forgot how to build a bridge. These are all 30 levels in the Bridge Building Game."

From Minnesota Stories Around town


This talented guy has a plethora of videos and his sketches are amazing. We may be the land of 10,000 lakes, but my god we must also be the land of a million bridges too.

Elukos bridge building game caught my attention, because I had wondered how many different kind of bridges there were, while I was driving all over and around the cities.

This post is just a run up to the next one I'll post today or tomorrow about the 35W bridge collapse.

When I heard that MNDOT put sensors on only one kind of bridge, I wasn't surprised by their short sightedness. Lets see, wouldn't you put the sensors on all the bridges with the worst ratings?

Would you maybe put the sensors on the bridges that are enduring more heavy traffic now, with a bad rating? Not just the bridges with the same design. Makes no sense to me, unless there something else we haven't been told yet, in plain english.

Maybe the MNDOT has been downsized too much?

I believe the 35E bridges South of Saint Paul may need some attention. Traffic is steadily growing in the areas where traffic backed up only at rush hour for less than a mile, not miles and miles of slow traffic all day long.

And as people find roads not usually traveled, we will have more volume, more inching along and more bottlenecks. After driving 35E south of the river going North at 45 miles per hour speed limit, I think I'd rather figure out how to cut into the city from side streets.

Neighborhoods will probably see more traffic going past their homes. Which does make me feel bad about invading what little peace and quiet they may have had prior.

Out of all the miles I traveled, the most pleasant drive was when I missed the turn off to Saint Paul from Highway 62. I ended up in Mendota Heights on 13 North. That was a nice drive with lots of trees.

The worst drive was when I drove from the western suburbs on 394 and met up with a big, big back up of traffic, detoured into the city and got lost in the mountain of road construction. That sucked.

Since last week, I have crossed so many bridges to try and avoid the tremendous back up of traffic, that by last night I was exhausted just from driving time.

Trying to get South of the city from the North, a huge challenge the first two times. Trying to get through the city of Minneapolis once you get there from the North, a huge challenge. And trying to get West and East, a huge challenge!

The drive back up from 494 on 35E sort of alarmed me when I noticed all of the deep gullies. All I think I have done is notice how many bridges link all of the suburbs to the city.

The construction going on in the heart of Minneapolis, makes me wonder why such a huge push to do these projects all at once? Isn't the RNC convention going to be in Saint Paul? Minneapolis has the bustling city life, while sadly Saint Paul has lost many thriving businesses.

Wait till the bill comes in for that convention....some of the planned expenditures are a glaring example of wasted tax payer dollars.

Even in its day, when Saint Paul had a bussel, while companies were beginning to pull up stakes, there was still a chance to restore the economic engine downtown.

Now, there are workers who just wind up staying inside their offices to eat their lunch instead of venturing out into the city life that once was Saint Paul. That is very different from what Saint Paul was even 7 or 8 years ago.

Saint Paul has been my favorite city since arriving, the architecture is breath taking and the diversity of our world more apparent. Its an old world city, that I will always love.

Thanks to Eluko79, for putting daily life into a visual prespective.