Brattleboro/ Hinsdale Bridge Unsafe

I am reporting this from the Brat library. I was on my bike crossing the closest bridge to Brattleboro on route 119, on the sidewalk on the north side of the road in the middle. A person with a dog was walking across the middle of the bridge on the side walk. As I approached the bridge from the Hinsdale side, I thought it safer for me to get off the bike and walk pass the person and the dog. That is when I felt a lot of the bridge shaking, I mean a lot...it was way abnormal. I looked around hoping I would see a heavy truck on the bridge, but all I seen was a few cars. I have rode and walked across this bridge many times. I have rode and walk across it maybe three or four times since the Brattleboro flood, I then have felt no such shaking until today...

I reported this to the Brattleboro police department, a big man, told him if something happens, because of our historic flooding, I am going to hold him and the Brattleboro police department accountable.

I told him from right now I am declaring that bridge unsafe until transportation engineers do a detailed inspection of the bridge.

Mike Mulligan wrote:

I told him from right now I am declaring that bridge unsafe until transportation engineers do a detailed inspection of the bridge.

What would we do without you Mike?

"*I AM DECLARING*"

Oh the POWER you have!

:-)

We need a new bridge right now before somebody gets hurt and more our economy gets disrupted...

Does anyone do anything right in your world?

My grandchildren can't do wrong at this age, or its funny until they get older...

Well let's shut down the bridge then. No traffic between Brattlemboro and Hinsdale unless they take the long way around.

The boy who cried wolf comes to mind.

After the bridge shaking, I head over to Mocha Joes. I think, remember the traumatic first vision of the of the flooding Whetstone Brook into the Connecticut River. I see homes piece by piece coming out of the Brook and going down the Connecticut River. Walking or riding across the Rt 119 Connecticut River bridge bring traumatic images of the massive flow...what i'd seen in the last 200 feet of the brook and all the flooding I'd seen in Brattleboro. I tell you what, I am still unnerved by all of that, everything of the past week, as across the bridge.

Maybe this nervousness is the cause of me paying attention to the noises of the Connecticut River bridge as I sit in Mocha Joes with my French roast coffee a few days after our historic flood.

I begin building a hypothetical model with what I thought about what was going on under the bridge. The day of the flood somebody told me the Whetstone debris and flooding water was jetting out all the way across to the other side of the Connecticut river just hours earlier. I though this abnormal flow was interacting with the Connecticut River, thus eroding the center bridge support. To my chagrin when I got down there at river level they was no center support...these bridges go right across the Connecticut river with out any support.

I though well, maybe the footing...inspected both sides and generally I seen no new cracks or anything unusual.. I had come to the conclusion from the information that was available to me that the flooding hadn't done any damage.

The footings, where bridge metal support lays on the concrete, all the metal between the concrete and the road support is basically a pile of rust.

The structure that support the road is basically tons of rather thin structural honeycomb iron work...it is not like the new bridges with between two or four huge hulking thick structural steel beams or concret and structural beams.

There is a sleeping bag and bedding covers on top of Hinsdale side concrete footong...

Anyways, that honeycomb iron structural members of this old bridge was all terribly rusted and corroded. There was tons of rust and I just could not see far out into the river...

Are you saying Is the bridge dangerous like Vermont Yankee dangerous?

beaglesarecute wrote:

Well let's shut down the bridge then. No traffic between Brattlemboro and Hinsdale unless they take the long way around.

Where would Vermonters do their shopping?

How much does a cup of coffee cost at Mocha Joes? Is it free trade coffee?

Thank God we have Mike Mulligan!!!!! Off the wall crazy nut job

So I am down on the south side of the Brattleboro concrete footing, right beyond the guard rails. You can put you foot on the iron stanchion, jump down onto the the concrete footings.

I notice the bridge humming as a car goes over the bridge, more worrisome it humming without a car even on the bridge.

There is like a humming noise happening when cars go over the bridge, the humming goes down to a steady state ambient humming sound without car. I am saying that god dam bridge hums with no cars on it...

So the river water might be impinging on something I can't see creating this ambient humming...

Maybe it is coming from the wind hitting the top superstructure...

Missing Cat wrote:

How much does a cup of coffee cost at Mocha Joes? Is it free trade coffee?

$1.75 for a large and $2.05 for a large...I never could afford any of these lattes or other expensive stuff from these stores...

Mike Mulligan wrote:

So I am down on the south side of the Brattleboro concrete footing, right beyond the guard rails. You can put you foot on the iron stanchion, jump down onto the the concrete footings.
I notice the bridge humming as a car goes over the bridge, more worrisome it humming without a car even on the bridge.
There is like a humming noise happening when cars go over the bridge, the humming goes down to a steady state ambient humming sound without car. I am saying that god dam bridge hums with no cars on it...
So the river water might be impinging on something I can't see creating this ambient humming...
Maybe it is coming from the wind hitting the top superstructure...

Could be your picking up radio waves with that metal plate of yours?

You got to take out a bank loan to cover the price of a large coffee in the co-op...

Mike Mulligan wrote:

We need a new bridge right now before somebody gets hurt and more our economy gets disrupted...

-"Our" economy? Ya mean Walmart's don't you? It would HELP Bratt stores if folks couldn't get to their f**ing Wallyworld cuz of that bridge being out, and it would keep the likes of YOU over there on the Newhampster side!
Maybe I'll strap my Tesla oscillator to that bridge and Get R Done-
http://www.excludedmiddle.com/earthquake.htm

Seriously, I think the Walmart cars and trucks are degrading the bridge. It must be a huge increase in traffic.

In my bad old days I'd want to kill the bridge in order to get even with Walmart firing me. But I can be bigger than them days.

Maybe I can redeem myself in the eyes of Walmart. I could save wally world a ton of money if we form a coalition to replace the rt 119 bridge in a emergency manner. We could form a public service group with the aims to do the community good and save lives with NH...to get that bridge replaced. Walmart should send me to the NH house to raise hell or some, or buy me a new bike.

I wonder how the pictures I took came out?