Noise

The article “Bridge construction could make a racket” by Liz Riggs, flaunted from the front page on Tuesday’s Minnesota Daily. Riggs reported on the reconstruction of the I-35 bridge and the possible noise it will produce. The construction team for the new bridge will be using a technique called “pile driving”. The technique requires steel-on-steel pounding, resulting in quite a bit of noise. Evidently, various students, especially those that live near the area of the new bridge are highly concerned with this suspected noise and felt the need to complain about it before the rebuilding begins. At this point, I don’t feel these people will be as annoyed with the reconstruction noise as I am with their reactions to this situation. Instead of thinking about how a little noise will affect them, I believe it would be more important for them to consider the positives in the bridge getting rebuilt. The I-35 bridge collapse this past summer was and still is a huge tragedy. It is essential for people to recall this major event and the terrors it resulted in. Many people died or were injured, and one of main traffic ways in Minneapolis was closed. We need this bridge up again. It has caused such a commotion not only within Minneapolis but also within our nation. Instead of worrying about getting woken up early by some noise, people should think about the importance of this bridge and how our city will benefit from it being up again. Unfortunately, it seems to be so easy to complain about something when that something has not directly affected you. If anyone is to have concerns with this situation, it should not be based on a little noise, but instead, based on how we can never let something this devastating happen again.

If YOU are truly concerned with this situation and want to lend a helping hand, click the link below for more information:
http://uscriticalinfrastructure.typepad.com/asce_critical_infrastruct/bridges.html