Subj : peeves was: Eagle Cam To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Fri Dec 06 2019 09:45:00 Hi Nancy! NB>>> Agreed on all of that... interesting to see what was beneath the NB>>> surface, but likely that one wouldn't be able to see very much or NB>>> very far... BM>> Probably not; the dirtier the water the less light passes, so even if BM>> something interesting to look at down there might not be able to see BM>> unless added lighting. Oh well, was an idea. NB>> Yup... while it lasted.... ;) BM> Oh well. At one time they were considering tunnels instead of bridges BM> over the Mississippi, at least locally. Would not have had the view; BM> hey look at that! NB> More likely concrete than glass, to be sure... ;) Yes, probably concrete. I don't recall what the tunnel material was going to be but at the time no consideration for under river viewing. ....Not recalling anything for pedestrians nor bicyclists; the bridge being built now does have accomodations, including an elevator. BM>>> As for above-river views, all the way from nothing happening to eagles BM>>> catching fish, the various river traffic..... NB>>> True... the river traffic would be interesting to me... along with NB>>> the eagles fishing.... So often, I'm driving over a bridge, and the NB>>> guardrails and all keep me from being able to see much if anything NB>>> of what is happening on the river or bay I'm crossing.... BM>> Plus keeping an eye on the road! Guardrails and barriers are good for BM>> somethings but bad for others. NB>> But it's so much easier to keep an eye on the road if one doesn't NB>> have to strain to see over guardrails and barriers..... ;) BM> True, though contrary to that thought was some of the barriers were BM> decorated. NB> Some of the new barriers along the construction on the highway NB> near us have bas-relief sculptures of the Erie Canal boats and NB> horses, and similar scenes.... but maybe that's to make up for NB> not being able to see the canal any more... :) Possibly! NB>> SOW, the construction on the highway near us seems to be finished... NB>> They ended up giving a dedicated lane each way as an entrance/exit NB>> lane between two exits, shifting which side had an exit only lane in NB>> the interchange with the other major expressway going north on the NB>> one, and the northbound entrance(s) onto the highway from the first NB>> street became one somewhat re-engineered one... overall, it seems to NB>> be a useful project after all... ;) Coming off the east-west highway NB>> going north from the east got reworked as well, making it a little NB>> less dangerous or hassle-y... And this winter, all the equipment and NB>> signage is gone... so it's pretty clear that they did finally finish.. BM> Yea!! Always good to have an extra lane, especially to provide an BM> orderly flow of traffic. Some years back they added part of a BM> cloverleaf to the 53rd St.and I-74 Interchange, which also added some BM> lanes to 53rd St. which is a new shopping area (numerous strip malls BM> as well as medical facilities). Part of the old was a light to turn BM> left and use the same entrance to I-74 as the on-coming lane. New is a BM> right-turn cloverleaf and a new entrance to I-74. On-coming still BM> uses the original but the traffic lights have been removed so no BM> traffic stoppage. So like your highway project ended up much safer and BM> efficient. NB> Nice when that happens... :) Yes. And it seems though a modern traffic project the underplanning mentioned previously for the interstate system did occur: for the 53rd St. shopping district the original four lanes had to be increased. The original access to I-74 made sense but with additional traffic caused traffic backups. BM>>> Right: lots of details I have no idea about. The news has shown BM>>> manholes and drains as mini-fountains in the flooded roads, plus warn BM>>> people not walk walk through flooded streets as the manhole covers BM>>> covers could have come off and they'd fall into the hole. NB>>> Yup, something else to be watching out for... ;) BM>> Some houses and maybe businesses along the River in low-lying area BM>> have some sort of a one-way ball valve in their sewer line: allows BM>> sewerage to flow to the street lines but not the other way in to the BM>> house. Once in a while a news item about the valve failing and the BM>> rather disgusting flooding of the basement. NB>> That can happen... and flooding might make it more likely to fail, NB>> with more pressure on it... :) BM> Unfortunately right. IIRC one small brew pub that was flooded BM> downtown lost $60,000 worth of equipment. That kind of number adds up BM> quickly! NB> Yup... unfortunately.... And if it's the same one it just reopened last week. BM>>>> So far no great ideas. Of course I'm only really thinking about it BM>>>> when the topic comes up here..... NB>>>> So you'll need a pad to jot down brilliant insights that appear as NB>>>> we discuss things.... BM>>> Well, there's always paper and pens here at the desk and yes I do make BM>>> notes of things as they pop in. So far nothing even remotely BM>>> brilliant for flood control. NB>>> Oh, well... you never know, though... BM>> I'm figuring more like a 99.9% chance I'll not come up with anything BM>> but there's always that 0.1%! NB>> Exactly... ;) BM> And I'm still waiting for the 0.1%! NB> Your couple of seconds of fame hang on your getting that... Waiting to be added to the couple minute interview years and years ago when I was booking a flight to visit my parents. NB>> ... "Are you ready?" "No, but that's never stopped me before!" BM> Sort of thinking how the reverse isn't quite true: I've not BM> done something because I wasn't ready, but the 'ready' was more BM> because something wasn't 'right'. NB> Yes, that's somewhat of an iffy statement at best.... though I've NB> known some that don't seem to pay any attention at all to things NB> and just rush into situations.... :) We have good news and we have bad news.... I can thing of examples where a spur of the moment decision would have minimal consequences and possibly even turn on better for the change. OTOH can think of others examples where doing without thinking would almost always turn out in a disaster. And of course other situatations where looks like unplanned but had gone through a few scenarios in one's imagination. NB> ... 54% of all statistics are made up. No, make that 82%. Just like some of those in the previous portion! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... 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