What's in a Bridge's Name? 9:50 AM

As the new Mississippi River bridge ceremonially breaks ground today, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a nice article on the efforts of archeologists to excavate and document sites to be disrupted by the construction of the bridge. Since the area in question was host to 19th century urban neighborhoods and Mississippian culture dating, perhaps, to the 9th century, these digs are important undertakings.

But as I read the article, something else was on my mind. What will the bridge be named?

Wait, what? It was already given a name? By the state of Missouri? In 2005?

Yes. The bridge is to be known as the Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Bridge.

Without getting overly political, I'm not happy about the name or the way it came about. Does Ronald Reagan have any association with Missouri? I know he was born in (northern) Illinois, but that doesn't count by my judgment. Also, doesn't it seem natural to consult the localities that the bridge will connect before naming it? Was this ever done?

The article states the bridge's Missouri landing would be Brooklyn Avenue (itself named after nearby Brooklyn, Illinois). Why not call it the Brooklyn Bridge?

Many bridges are named after the street on which they land. The Poplar Street Bridge is a prominent example. Since the bridge is to feed into Cass, why not call it the Cass Avenue Bridge?

If the state wanted to name the structure after a famous person, why did it not choose a famous St. Louisan or Metro East figure? I would have loved to have seen a Josephine Baker Memorial Bridge, to name just one.

The Post-Dispatch article brings up an even better idea for naming the bridge: the city's mound-builder history, which spans both side of the river. What about the Mound City Bridge?

Basically, any other name would have been better for this new bridge. Missouri, where is your creativity and pride in place?

New Mississippi River Bridge Spares Old North; Adds More Lanes Over the Mississippi 1:28 AM

Why is it that our local newspaper never attends to urban affairs in the majority of its stories--including ones that could directly relate to such issues?

My mind is on the New Mississippi Bridge right now. A designer for the bridge has been selected, per the P-D story of today. HNTB Corp. of Kansas City, which designed the "Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge" in Cape Girardeau over the same river in 2003, will do the honors. Here is a picture of their work in Cape.

It will be a four lane bridge and should start construction in 2010.

"I think the important thing is for the residents of Illinois that we are moving forward with a plan that will help reduce travel delays faced by the commuters who cross the Mississippi River on a daily basis," said Brooks Brestal of IDOT, a deputy project manager for the new bridge.

Okay. Concern #1: I cannot help but buy into the whole alarmist notion that automobiles will be extinct sooner than we think. With gas prices rising to nearly $3.50 a gallon (at least here in Louisiana), I do wonder if commuters will be looking for cheaper alternatives in the near future. Might an effort to increase mass transit ridership be time better spent? Do we really need this new bridge? Have we not progressed in planning past the point where throwing new lanes to ravenous drivers is seen as a (temporary) panacea to traffic headaches? That's a lot of questions, but I think they're all valid.

Concern #2: What will happen to Old North St. Louis! The lack of reporting on this seems telling of the Post's style of reporting: bland and disinterested in urban issues. Why do I have to go to the new bridge's website (NOT referenced in the online article) to get these details? Luckily, it appears that a chunk of Old North St. Louis won't be sacrificed for the off-ramp, and instead, a ramp onto Cass Avenue was selected instead. Check it out for yourself.

Finally, Concern #3: Any provisions for pedestrians/cyclists on this new bridge, or, since this will be I-70 officially speaking, will we see no such amenities as usual?

Regarding the Post-Dispatch, maybe I'm just being too critical. Ah well. It's finals week, folks! Expect some extra crankiness!

"Visit To A City Out Of Time" 12:46 AM

The following is a poem by the transcendent Audre Lorde, a legally blind black lesbian married to a white woman in the 1960s. She is called the "ultimate other," reflecting her intersecting identities and sources of oppression. Her challenging and often bitter poetry survives her; she died of cancer in 1992. She often spoke of the need to voice one's demons, one's anger and not to appeal to nicety. Her caustic words were meant to provoke, to incite change, to inform the status quo that there was a rift on the horizon.

Here is her poem (see title above) about St. Louis, written at some point in the early 1970s. Notice her scathing indictment--how St. Louis is a victim, like Lorde herself, but one who has surrendered and is perhaps carried as if driftwood down a "cutting" and uncaring river. What's your take?

If St. Louis
took its rhythms
from the river
that cuts through it
the pulse of the Mississippi
has torn this city
apart.

St. Louis is
somebody's home
and not answering
was
nobody
shoveling snow
because spring would come
one day.

In time
people who live
by rivers
dream
they are immortal.