Great Start
This week was the start of the Spring Break season on the Gulf Coast, when local tourist businesses start making some money, and local hiring edges up in the service industry.
Needless to say, what no one needed was a crane being pushed on a barge to slam into the bridge to the barrier island.
The water main to the island was busted, and there will have to be a complete inspection to see if the bridge can be repaired, or needs to be replaced, which would be a severe economic loss to the area. The bridge was constructed as two parallel structures, and only one was hit, but it was already over-capacity for a four-lane bridge, so limiting it to two lanes will be a traffic nightmare.
The island can be accessed via a second bridge at its eastern end, but almost all of the houses, hotels, and condos are built near the damaged bridge. Water taxis are going to be needed, and we don’t have any.
The crew of the ship pushing the barges is going to be having an uncomfortable discussion with the Coast Guard as to why the boom of the crane wasn’t lowered for transport.
March 20, 2013 2 Comments
Vernal Equinox
It’s that time of year. Spring arrives at 6:02AM CDT this morning. You can have watch it come at Archæoastronomy.
The air is already filled with pollen and the live oaks are dropping last year’s leaves. The azaleas are fading as the camellias have already done, but the Easter cactus is budding. This is occurring earlier every year.
I would note that locally we have had 12 hours or more of daylight since St. Patrick’s Day, and usually do.
March 20, 2013 6 Comments
