Down by the River, I

At a Solstice gathering in December, I sat next to a bridge inspector who told me his views on our bridge collapsing into the Mississippi River this past August 1. [See Part V]

The memory of his disturbing story plus my new camera inspired me to try my hand at a photo essay. This afternoon, I went down to the river to scout around the disaster site, where I'd yet to go.

Along the river walkway, I took this photo of myself reflected in a mirrored box sculpture, a few blocks from where the bridge used to be.

You can see the Stone Arch Bridge in the background. Built in 1882-1883, it is still in use, but only for pedestrian traffic. It was never engineered to bear 140,000 cars and trucks a day.
Neither was the 35W bridge, completed in 1967, but that's what it was bearing.