November 5, 2007
A Bridge to Somewhere
Tonight's Tiverton Town Council meeting will almost entirely — excepting the closed executive session, of course — be taken up with a presentation concerning some proposed changes to the New Sakonnet Bridge from Tiverton to Portsmouth. I will say this: comparing the before and (proposed) after pictures really gives one a sense of what government funds ought to be used to accomplish.
The new bridge will certainly be an improvement, not the least because it will allow for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. It doesn't take much to improve quality of life incrementally.
It's also been edifying to note that this "special meeting" (and the multimillion dollar project that it addresses) is of sufficient import to bring out my state-level representatives. Hopefully, they're having similar thoughts to mine with respect to worthwhile and appropriate government expenditures (beyond, you know, the rub-and-tug political benefits).
ADDENDUM:
Unfortunately, I decided to start bringing my laptop to these things, rather than relying on my stealth bloggerware, and all of the meeting setup has put all of the important people behind me, so they can all plainly see that I'm spending most of the time reading the Corner etc.
At the risk of interrupting your extra-curricular reading, Justin. With regard to the funding of the new bridge, isn't it being paid for mostly with federal, not state, monies? In that case, we would not be putting the political souls of your state representatives in jeopardy.
Posted by: Monique at November 5, 2007 8:43 PMJustin,
The New Sakonnet Bridge from Portsmouth to Tiverton has to be finished and upgraded in case of an emergency because as it stands now, it can not support the weight of RI Emergency Management Agency Mobile Command Center (two-axle GVW 46,500 lb or 23.25 tons).
http://www.piercehomelandsecurity.com/vehicles/rhode_island.cfm
RI DOT Engineering Posted Bridge Weights http://www.dot.state.ri.us/engineering/pages/bridges.asp
make it almost impossible for the $1.4 million 41 ft long by 8 ft wide vehicle to move around the state of RI in support any state or community disasters.
http://www.riema.ri.gov/whatsnew/
Being a "lifer" in the east bay, I think I can say with reasonable assuredness that the new bridge will probably not have pedestrian and bike lanes due to subsequent rounds of project cuts as the build progresses. As the cost increases over the life of the project things will start to dissapear from the project, and unfortunately those types of things are what goes. I wouldn't be surprised to see us end up with a flatter version of the Jamestown-Verrizano(sp?).
Posted by: kjr at November 16, 2007 12:55 AM