Name:   GoneFishin - Subject:   Hey Lifer Date:   7/18/2016 8:48:35 PM

Is this it??

If you ever pay attention to the bridge as you go under it, you will never want to go over it again!!  It is in really bad shape.  Back in the late 80's or so, our benevolent politicians got a report on about 75-80 bridges (can't remember exact number) that were in poor shape and a threat for catastrophic failure.  Politicians being what they are immediately set about using that scare tactic to increase the gasoline tax by 5 cents.    One of the most remarkable propaganda ploys was of course, "think of the children crossing these unsafe death traps on school buses".  They made grandiose promises of all the new bridges complete with spectacular architectural drawings of most.  Coincidentally  there didn't seem to be a single area of the state that didn't have one of these bridges.  That was important because the new tax had to go to statewide vote for approval.  The HWY 49 bridge was on the list.  It was to be replaced by a beautiful raised bridge that all boats would go under.  Of course property values skyrocketed on the east side and a lot of new development sprung up.

Well politicians being what they are, the ink was barely dry on the ballots when they put out a 'revised' list.  Revised all the way down to about a dozen or so.  Once again, coincidentally I'm sure, it seems the most unsafe bridges were all near where the most powerful politicians called home.  So here we are 25-30 years later still paying the nickel a gallon tax, and children still crossing these death traps in school buses all over the state.

As Paul Harvey would say, "that's the rest of the story".