Aaron Landry

Tag Archives: 35W

I-35W Bridge Redesign

Star Tribune Quote, originally uploaded by s4xton.

Jim Foti of the Star Tribune quoted me in a story today about the I-35W Bridge redesign, Debate begins: Elegant simplicity or uninspired slab?.

Aaron Landry of Minneapolis said his first reaction was that the state was replacing “a structurally deficient bridge with an aesthetically deficient one,” but his views softened Tuesday after he visited the Minnesota Department of Transportation website and checked out the designs that didn’t win. “Out of the choices, this is the best one,” he said.

People who follow me on Twitter heard the same quote a couple days ago. While what I said might be harsh, it was honestly my first reaction when the design was released.

Since I’ve taken more time to look at it, my opinion has changed a bit. In my conversation with the Star Tribune I mentioned a few things that I almost wish would have gotten published instead. For example, one of the main feelings I get when looking at the bridge design now is that it’s a simple, strong-looking bridge. Jim Foti joked with me that hey, if it looks strong, it must be strong! Honestly, I think that makes a big impact with people’s impressions considering the circumstances. It’s a strong-looking bridge!

I also spent a bunch of time talking about the lighting. If you look at the full proposal (88mb PDF) you can see a rendering of it at dusk with a nice blue glow to it. I suggested that under the bridge the lighting could be changing or moving, joking that if it took example of from the lighting atop of the Target Headquarters building, perhaps it and the bridge could talk to one another through the night. I thought about it a bit more and realized it may not be a bad idea. Perhaps it could be pulled off in an decent and artful manner without it being obnoxious. It’s one of the few bridge locations where a creative lighting solution like that would be appropriate. Of course, this would only be on the underside of the bridge as to not distract motorists.

I think it could be a relatively inexpensive, appropriate and unique way to make our new bridge augment our cityscape at night. What do you think?

¶ Posted 10 October 2007 § Media, Blogging and Technology § Travel and Transportation ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: star tribune

Roadguy: “Four lanes to two on 10th Avenue”

The 10th Avenue bridge will reopen tomorrow with two lanes of traffic.

¶ Posted 30 August 2007 § Media, Blogging and Technology § Minneapolis § Travel and Transportation ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged: bridge, roadguy, star tribune

Interviewing Noah Kunin and Britt Bakken

Noah Kunin Sharing Photos, originally uploaded by s4xton. Noah Kunin (L), Doug Belkin (R)

Last night I had dinner with Noah Kunin and his girlfriend Britt Bakken as they were being interviewed by Wall Street Journal writer Doug Belkin at The Times Bar and Cafe.

As Noah and Britt lived closest to the 35W bridge that collapsed, they had some incredible first-hand experience with the event. Noah was actually in the shower when it occurred and went out on his roof to see what happened. With the rush to go out and help people he put on the first set of clothes he could find: a tight biker shirt, shorts and boots.

“There wasn’t any screaming,” Britt said. After it fell, Noah added that all they heard was tires exploding and noises from vehicles.

Britt described the people where they were on the south end of the bridge and how there was “no chaos” and “everyone knew what to do.” They described a man that came out of the water from nowhere and then immediately started to help others. They saw a biker on West River Parkway that came up to the bridge immediately after it collapsed where he literally threw down his expensive bike so he could jump up and give assistance.

They saw another man who’s car was submerged that went back to it, smashed open the passenger side window, and dug around because he “forgot some stuff, like his wallet,” even though the water was black and swirling with gas and oil.

They didn’t see anyone who was dead or severely injured. They assumed there had to have been people that died but didn’t see any evidence of it. People on various parts of the rubble were yelling messages to each other such as “are you okay?” and “do you see anyone?”

After they couldn’t find anyone else to help, Noah took photos of the scene and then gave me his username and password to his blog so I could update it on his behalf. He was bombarded with phone calls while he was being evacuated away from his home. As a result I ended up being his media agent throughout the next day, constantly getting calls and emails asking to get interview time with him and discussing the terms to use his photography. Good thing my work day was otherwise slow.

We had tapas and drank for a few hours. After Noah and Britt were finished retelling their stories, we moved on to talk more about some of the good and bad parts of the media reaction, how various news outlets are more organized than others, citizen journalism, the local blogosphere and our communication infrastructure.

I will update this post if this interview shows up in a piece at the Wall Street Journal.

While Noah as taken about twenty interviews so far, I recommend checking out Jon Gordon’s piece on this from a citizen-media angle (MP3) that also features my pals Erica and Chuck. Noah and Chuck are also in Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s citizen-media piece in the Pioneer Press today.