Each morning as I come into work, I cross over the old I-10 bridge -- me and a few thousand of my closest friends!

For several weeks -- it seems like months -- crew members have been working on that bridge. During this work, the four-lane bridge has been reduced to a two-lane bridge, which causes major traffic delays going east and west. This traffic jam causes back-ups in major drive times. Often traffic is tied up for miles and tempers are short.

Even on good days back when all four lanes were open, vehicles -- especially big trucks -- break down going up or down the steep bridge. (See above about traffic jams.) Well, with only one lane each way currently open, you can imagine -- or maybe you can’t -- what a nightmare that creates. (Re-read above about traffic jams.) And it'll be March before the construction completes.

I have great respect for the hard-working men trying to save this bridge. Many are painting. Several are welding and repairing bent and broken sections of railings … the ones with eight sets of the crossed-pistols. The painters, for the most part, seem to be painting the underside of the Westlake side of the bridge.

Lately, as I sit and sit and sit on the bridge, I have had more of an opportunity to “enjoy” the bridge’s features. Even taking pictures. . . for the grandkids, of course.

This morning while doing just that, it occurred to me that there seemed to be more bent, crushed and otherwise wrecked side railings of the bridge. I counted 11. I was later told it was closer to 15.

Here’s what worries me: There seems to be a real possibility that there are more sections needing repair now than when the crews first started several weeks ago. That begs the question -- could it be that the temporary two lane “detours” are causing enough new wrecks and crashes into the side rails that the work crews are losing ground?

Somebody help me here.

What do you think? How do you feel when you cross this bridge?

 

Don and Chili took a drive over the bridge to see just how many railing problems there were. This is video of just one side of the bridge, and it doesn’t count the work going on below the bridge.

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