BABY BOOMERS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

POST # 73



As time goes by and the cohort of humans that is commonly referred to as the baby boomers continue to age, our “infrastructure” ages along with us. Joints not working properly, aches and pains, memory loss, are all part of the aging process of our human infrastructure. After all, nothing lasts forever.

This past week, some other infrastructure that was “born” in 1955, the same year that I was, finally gave up the ghost. A bridge near the city of Mount Vernon here in Washington State, collapsed into the Skagit River. This particular bridge was located on Interstate 5 which is the main highway that runs from the Canadian border in British Columbia to the Mexican border.

The cause of the collapse was apparently due to a truck driven by a fellow Albertan transporting an oversized load south. According to reports, some part of the truck contacted one of the girders of the bridge’s structure. The resulting impact caused an entire section of the bridge to fall unceremoniously into the river. Amazingly, only the truck and two other cars ended up in the drink, and only a few minor injuries were suffered by a small number of people.

The accident happened around 7pm in the evening and the next day, my friend, Mary and I were travelling on the interstate south of said accident. At the time we had no idea at all about what had taken place less than twenty four hours earlier. Our return journey that day showed us just how much we take for granted believing that everything is going to work as we expect it to work, - forever. The traffic jam caused by the re-routing of traffic around the affected area, was a sight to behold. Lucky for us, we were moving in a direction opposite of the main jam, otherwise we might still be sitting there.

If one were to look at the entire country as a whole, this bridge was really just an insignificant structure compared to others scattered around the countryside. And yet, all it took was a small impact from a single truck, to cause chaos far and wide. The fact that it happened just prior to the long weekend helped to put a “spanner in the works” as they say in Australia, for quite a few individuals, who had planned to be using interstate 5 to get to wherever they were going that weekend.

This latest failure of infrastructure made me think back a few years to when I was still living in Vancouver, and there was an electrical malfunction that caused the entire downtown area to be without power for four days. During those four days, I happened to have a customer aboard my Aquabus ferry, whom had recently retired from B.C. Hydro, the power provider for the province. I’ll never forget what he told me that day. He said, “Vancouver-ites better get used to this happening from time to time because ALL OF THIS ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS AT LEAST 50 YEARS OLD.”

The point of all this is to say, that it really doesn’t matter whether we are talking about bridges, electrical grids, roads, subways, atomic power plants or whatever one wants to look at. All of it is getting as creaky and brittle as our aging baby boomer bodies. Most of it was constructed when the energy used to build it was cheap and plentiful, and at a time when it seemed that most municipalities were flush with money to continue to build and upgrade the systems. That was then and this is now. As time continues to pass, we will likely see more of, not less of these occurences. Having recently driven through Portland, Oregon, with all of its many bridges, I can only imagine what the folks living there must be thinking now. And plenty of those bridges are much much higher above the ground, than the bridge over the Skagit River. I certainly wouldn’t like to be on one of them when it fails. At that point, you would be hoping that you had purchased the latest car that could morph into an airplane and land safely. Somehow, I don’t think the technology party will be around long enough to see flying cars.

Thankfully, my own personal baby boomer infrastructure seems to be holding up so far in spite of the metal supports added to my right leg. And thankfully we weren’t travelling along Interstate 5 last week when the bridge came tumbling down like Humpty Dumpty. Sometimes it feels like life is like a game of Russian Roulette and at some point, one might find oneself in the wrong place at the wrong time. But until that time, I will continue to be thankful for each breath, and each precious day ahead.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer