I know that Governor Sarah Palin has been really busy while she has been in office, but one would think, hope, pray, that the safety of Alaskans would be somewhere on her priority list. Apparently, not near the top. How else could one explain this recent photo taken of damage in the north span of the Trail River bridge of the Seward Highway.
Seward Highway? Yes, that national scenic byway that is one of the major transportation arteries of the state. I don't think it takes a civil engineer to look at girder number one and figure out something is a miss. Nor is it any surprise that this damage didn't happen overnight, but from years of deferred maintenance.
The crews are closing down the highway this (normally very busy since the grey whale watches would be coming to Seward) weekend from 10 pm tonight to 5 am Monday morning to put in a temporary fix.
Guess we should all be letting loose a sigh of relieve that a bus load of cruise ship tourists and they unregulated heavy luggage didn't go crashing through prior to the structure being fixed. I know the locals really enjoyed the slow the highway down to 25 mph, set up a stop light at either end of the bridge, say two Hail Marys, have everyone take turns driving down the middle of the bridge adventure we have had this spring.
Apparently, I am not the only one who has noticed that Seward's safety hasn't been noticed. Kenai Pen Borough Mayor Dave Carey suggests he had nearly thousand complains on the issue, and suggests some legal action may be following. Read his letter at the Seward City News.
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