On the way back, we hung a quick turn and headed towards the river, where you're allowed to drive, but only as far as the police tape will allow. We were able to see down the train tracks towards the bridge - and the train that is trapped under the road deck that has been on the news - and the north end that is up in the air now.Heading back to work, we saw the media circus - and media folks would get a kick out of the pecking order, CNN and major national affiliates on the 10th Street bride east of the collapse and the overpass north of the accident site - milling around and eating box lunches, waiting for something else to happen.
We swung over through an apartment parking lot downstream a bit and saw the First Lady's helicopter buzzing the site before we headed back to work.
All told, there seem to be very few people actually working there today, with probably three-to-one coverage from the media of the divers and cops down near the river. The whole scene wasn't nearly as shocking as anyone had imagined and I've already heard some griping about the traffic patterns and gawkers who are plugging up the streets.
Just a few more quick thoughts from Minneapolis today.
* Both of us realized pretty early on that conversations Thursday began all day with, "Everyone OK on your end?" before moving on to whatever business you had to talk about. This went on all day, but was pretty reassuring. This dovetailed with the calls Wednesday night from family and friends checking in and e-mails that night and through the morning.
* Part of the problem with all of those phone calls were constant busy circuits and cell phones that just wouldn't work. There's more on that here. It's something to think about and also worth knowing that even when cell phones are down, text messages seem to get through pretty easily.
* For anyone interested in digging in further, here's a links list from Poynter.org that has some great resources regarding the paperwork involved, historical perspective and other links that you'll be seeing sourced over the weekend if past performance is an indicator.
* The factor I keep waiting to hear about but haven't is the water quality downstream. KFAN in the Cities is slowly getting back to its sports format, but they had a rescue diver on this afternoon who was speaking about the debris, nasty currents and other obstacles for the divers.
Between the brake fluid, gasoline, oil and other chemicals that are leaking from the cars that were crushed, it will put a major dent in the normal summer activities on the river from swimming to fishing and boating.
It's bad enough that the divers are reportedly in dry suits, but obviously isn't top priority right now. Given how much concern the Twin Cities show for the river, it's probably coming up soon, but the dog is bummed out that I'm home before 5 p.m. today and he's not swimming in the river right now.
* It's just a gut reaction, but I don't see the bridge hysteria being pimped by CNN and others dying down soon. With bridges an integral part of the national highway system, it's not like the levee problems in New Orleans during Katrina, where the Midwest and other parts of the country couldn't relate.
A bridge is a bridge, they're all over and apparently they're in worse shape than anyone thought.
As I write this, CNN has a feature on bridge safety, asking why the bridge wasn't shut down years ago for repair. I can only imagine the public outcry if that had happened without this disaster first.
* I never thought much about presidential visits until they were brought up on The West Wing but seeing Laura Bush buzz over our shop a few times today reminded me of the wonders of air travel. The President arrives tomorrow to make a bad traffic situation much, much worse...
* We'll be at the Twins game tomorrow night - I'm debating about bringing the camera to see what we can see and maybe post a few on Flickr for everyone.
(Image from Getty by Mark Wilson / via ChicagoTribune.com)
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