posted by admin on Feb 27

Throughout each and every single day and on a round the clock basis as well, millions upon millions of our fellow citizens travel across bridges or vital support structures of the same type for the purpose of getting to wherever it is that all of us need to go.  While all of this continuous travel has in fact become routine with the most pressing concern for the most part revolving around how crowded the traffic flow is going to be on these structures, of much greater importance however is the confirmation that these bridges are not only structurally sound but secure enough to the point that we can use them effectively and with a very minimal amount of risk on all counts and at all times.  As was the case in the collapse of the I-35 Mississippi River Bridge on August 1, 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota in which thirteen people lost their lives and nearly one hundred others were injured when this structure fell into the water during the evening rush hour, both the design of these structures as well as the regular upkeep and maintenance are critically vital to ensuring the durability of these bridges as well as vigilance on behalf of everyone in the name of preventing these targets from being attacked by terrorists throughout the world.  Of course and as you might imagine, the reality of hundreds of thousands of motorists using these bridges on a daily basis is most appealing to the barbaric terrorists that we are dealing with in the world today as their standard method of operation is to take out as many people as they possibly can and create as much fear and impact with each of their strikes at the same time. 

While all of us simply cannot occupy ourselves with the design and maintenance of each of these vital structures since this responsibility lies directly in the hands of the public authorities and officials who oversee these critical elements of safety, reliability and durability, we not only can but must take it upon ourselves through the ” T.H.R.I.V.E. For America Initiative ” that I introduced to you last week to make sure that all of these vital bridges and structures become hardened targets and will basically serve as deterring the terrorists from taking any type of action here and redirect them elsewhere.  Simply put, do I expect any of you to patrol the waterway surrounding these bridges in order to prevent an attack ?  Of course not.  Do I expect any of you to perform citizen patrols of these structures for the purposes of accomplishing these same objectives ?  Not at all.  However and what I do expect from all of you is to go about your everyday lives and activities by crossing these bridges and support structures like you always do but to report anything suspicious that you observe to your local authorities immediately.  For example and upon the conclusion of your work day you walk to where your car is parked at and observe a group of supposedly homeless people gathered around the support pillars to an overhead section of an interstate, then I would strongly suggest that you get on that cell phone of yours and contact your first responders immediately and let them check it out themselves.  If you think I am joking around here, then consider what would happen if a group of terrorists were to dress up as a bunch of homeless bums ( They all look and smell like that anyway )  and then take out any one of these multiple pillars that prop up both the north and south bound sections of Interstate Five that feed directly to and from the infamous choke point in Downtown Seattle.  Need I say more. 

For now though and getting back to the main theme here which is to use your eyes in the name of individual vigilance to protect both the low profile and high profile bridges with volume by the hundreds and even hundreds of thousands of vehicles each day, I will simply encourage each of you to keep your eyes open as you never know when something unusual might present itself right before your very eyes.  For example, just to the south of where I am right now, we have the Tacoma Narrows Bridge which is an icon of this area just like the Golden Gate Bridge is in San Francisco.  Both of these suspension bridges are magnificent structures which  have numerous features in common including the fact that terrorist would absolutely love to take them both  out in the name of high impact with massive amounts of  fear and body counts.  However and with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an additional element is now in play with the recent completion of the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge which basically means that we now have what I refer to as ” The Twin Targets ” right here in my own back yard as these two structures are identical and lined up right next to each other on Puget Sound.  The Golden Gate Bridge on the other hand is a magnificent structure as well but it also takes on the added significance of being a symbol of not only the Bay Area but with all of America as well.  In fact, the construction on this bridge in San Francisco was completed in 1937 and regular maintenance on this structure has been enacted ever since which should from a structural perspective ensure that this bridge should be able to last forever.  But then again, the same thing was said about the World Trade Center which has illustrated completely the reasons for security teams being in place at this structure in San Francisco as well as the importance of Americans everywhere to be on the lookout for anything suspicious at bridges of any type and to report their observations to their first responders immediately. 

From the perspective of noticing anything unusual in your everyday activities both traveling on or cruising by these structures, I would strongly encourage all of you boaters out there to pay immediate attention and respond in a very rapid manner of you should ever see anyone hanging around in a boat near the caisons at water level which hold up the towers of the bridge itself.  For those of you who are driving, riding a bike or walking across the bridge like so many people do each day on the Golden Gate Bridge, pay particular attention to anyone who seems out of place and is acting strangely as any type of activity on the bridge deck of a structure such as this must be treated with extreme attention as this is obviously where all of the riders are at all times.  In fact and as crazy as this may seem, make sure to immediately notify your first responders if you should ever see anyone attempting to climb the towers and in particular the cables that support suspension bridges such as the Golden Gate Bridge as I previously mentioned the imperative importance of reporting any type of suspicious activity in the immediate vicinity of support pillars for land based bridges to your local authorities immediately and the same principle applies here too.  Finally and in the event that you are visiting a water front area such as a park or an apparent vacant lot at the opposing ends of these bridges such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or the Tacoma Narrows Bridge up here in Washington State, make sure to pay particular attention to anything that seems suspicious in these areas of critical importance as these are the locations that are referred to as the ” anchorages ” which basically are ninety million pound blocks of buried concrete and steel which secure by physical means the ends of the massive cables on both sides and at each end of the bridge that holds up the bridge deck itself which supports the hundreds of thousands of vehicles and riders who travel on this structure each day. 

Therefore and in closing, if you are either driving across one of these bridges or support structures, walking or riding your bike or perhaps even playing around on your yacht on the waterway surrounding these massive structures, keep your eyes open and expect the unexpected and then do something about it immediately by contacting your first responders as this is what vigilance is all about.  For now though, keep your eyes open and stay safe and through the vigilance that each of you provide every single day and night the thousands of bridges and support structures that we have in our country will be secured on a twenty four seven basis and the millions of our fellow citizens who use them each day will continue to be able to do exactly that for many, many years to come.  As a special treat to all of you and as a token of my appreciation for your vigilance on a regular basis, I am going to provide you with a video clip of the Golden Gate Bridge that is very spectacular to say the very least so enjoy this video presentation via Youtube as I know you will and let it serve as a constant reminder to keep our eyes open and ensure the fact that all of our bridges and support structures remain safe and secure for all of our future generations as well so they too can enjoy the convenience, amazement and inspiration of the video that I will share for you below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FNNGk4ejE4

While the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is the most spectacular structure and symbol of its type in our country, the importance of properly securing all of the bridges and support structures throughout America is just as critical as protecting this magnificent icon in the Bay Area itself.