Shot in the Dark

Converts

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

Winter is ending, Minnesota’s other season is beginning. The Wabasha Street bridge will be closed starting April 1st. That’s the route I usually take to work but in the spirit of enlightened progressiveness, I’m considering public transportation as an alternative.

The Metro Transit Trip Planner website says my ordinary route is Dale Street bus to Thomas, switch to Minnehaha bus to 5th and Cedar, then take the Signal Hills bus across the Wabasha Street Bridge to Plato and walk from there.

Cost $4.50 round trip, which is cheap: it’s 10 miles round trip at 57.5 cents IRS rate making the bus fare a buck and a quarter cheaper than what the IRS would allow for mileage in a private vehicle.

Trip time: 45 minutes each way or 90 minutes total, which is three times longer than my normal 30-minute drive time.

Is the extra hour of my time spent sitting on the bus worth more than I’d save by taking public transit instead of driving? Is my time worth more than $1.25 an hour? Barely; but yeah, I’d say so.

But wait . . . that’s before road construction shuts down the Wabasha Street bridge where the Signal Hills bus goes. They’ll have to detour it somewhere, probably Robert Street, and then who knows where it goes. Commute time gets longer. Bus-to-car value ratio goes even lower.

Maybe I should look into getting a bicycle?

Joe Doakes

it’s not the worst idea guy could have.

Although didn’t they just finish the Wabasha Street bridge, like, 25 years ago? It already needs repairs?

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Mitch Berg

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Comments

8 responses to “Converts”

  1. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Could have my bridges mixed up, but I think it was the one on which serious structural cracks were found shortly after the reconstruction was completed. So much for the low bidders.

  2. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    My engineering society had a guy who worked on one of those bridges that they sort of wheeled into place after constructing it elsewhere, and he confessed that when the bridge deck was installed, it already had cracks in it. Now this may or may not be a huge issue, I’m thinking that if I inspect my new home and see cracks in the foundation, I’m not closing on it.

  3. Loren Avatar
    Loren

    Much less than 25 years, perhaps 15?

  4. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    I’d imagine it’s just road deck work; it gets a ton of traffic.

    I’ve never heard of any structural issues with the Wabasha Bridge – at least not the new one. The old one – built in the 1890s – on the other hand, was a scary thrill ride, along with the old and similar-aged Marshall-Lake Bridge.

  5. Mitch Berg Avatar
    Mitch Berg

    The one I heard had the real serious cracks was the new High Bridge. Its first winter in service, they discovered they hadn’t properly allowed for the contraction of the steel in the cold…

    …when a 12-inch gap appeared in the roadway at the center of the span.

  6. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    Not all low builders are low quality, and not all high bidders are high quality, especially if they are cronies.

    Pfft. Joe, nobody cares about your productivity nor what is the best utilization of your free time. All progressives care is getting you on the bus to nowhere and spend as much of your time pondering marvels of modern progressivism to make you a more compliant serf.

  7. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Joe, I’d recommend one of those “fat tire” bikes to deal with those 12 inch gaps in the bridges you’ll have to cross. Just make sure you’ve got lights and visible clothing on. :^)

  8. The Big Stink Avatar
    The Big Stink

    There’s no way they could re-route the Green Line to WSP?

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