In Focus

My mother hates driving across bridges. While she’s not afraid of heights, she doesn’t like bridges. Big or small, she hates them all.

I recall many times traveling across bridges with my mom. She flies across a bridge as fast as possible or she will make someone else drive.

Once when we were vacationing we flew in and then proceeded to take the San Rafael Bridge (a sister bridge to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge). Mom did not handle it well. My aunt was driving and my mom was hyperventilating and chain-smoking as we made our way across the bridge.

Another time, Mom had taken me and a friend to the Little Falls Zoo. Traffic came to a halt on the bridge in town due to a train passing. Mom got out and told us to pick her up at the end of the bridge. I was about 14. My friend and I thought it was hilarious and laughed the entire time.

You won’t ever catch her on the overpass in Staples.

The I-35W collapsed in 2007. Now, the tragic news out of Maryland came as a cargo ship that lost power crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge. A mayday distress call made it through in time to stop traffic from crossing the bridge, but several workers on the bridge weren’t so lucky. It’s a tragic loss of life and a loss of an area icon that has stood the test of time.

Just imagine if the Golden Gate Bridge collapsed. Or if the I-35W St. Anthony Falls Bridge were to go down...again.

Maryland officials are looking to clean up and rebuild as quickly as possible, as the port has been closed due to this disaster. This port exports the most cars and farm equipment in the nation. While legislatures want to create a financial package for those whose businesses are being affected, the feds released $60 million in immediate aid.

Officials are quickly making plans, looking to those with similar experiences to guide them through this grueling process, one of those being the state of Minnesota.

Maryland has a long road ahead of them.

All the while, this adds more fuel to my mom’s hatred of bridges.