50+ Lifestyles

Just Saying…

By Q.C. Jones

Bridging the Subject

A recent drive around the Quad-Cities really drove home a point: We really are 383,937 friendly people separated by a river.  Shy of the newfangled flying car featured on so many internet sites, we are 383,937 folks divided by five bridges; give or take one or two.  And as you might imagine, I have something to say about bridges.

First, the obvious. Work on the bridges seems to be incessant and insidious. This year’s episode happens to be the Twin Bridges of I-74. Traffic snags during the morning and evening work shifts have been wonderfully annoying. Many days the delays back up traffic for several miles and give QCA drivers a taste of big city life. We learn to kill time as our cars inch forward. Recently, the otherwise 15 minute trip to the airport cost yours truly just over 45 minutes of waiting. But I am not the only one.

Water cooler chat in offices and workplaces in the QCA have been overwhelmed with doom and gloom stories of traffic snafus. Those who live life just a few minutes behind schedule have learned to capitalize on bridge stories as their trusty tardiness tale. Never mind the fact they continuously arrive at work just shy of ten after eight each day. Forget the point, these same people are late to meetings happening in the same building. This summer, new variations of the bridge traffic story premiere each day as these folks slink in the front door and buzz past co-workers who managed to find it in their hearts to be prompt in their attendance.

Just a day or so ago we got the latest report from a friend who runs a medium size office on the Iowa side. One young worker with a less than stellar record for on-time arrival, has leveraged the bridge into an unprecedented 8:45 start time.  Repeated conversations about his promptness brought out deluxe details on how and why he managed to get blocked off by unexpected traffic issues. Little did he know, the supervisor knew his address and, guess what?  He lives on the Iowa side.  No bridges stand in his way to work.
Bridging the gap between those who are perpetually late and prompt people can be difficult. According to an article appearing in last November’s Psychology Today, one underlying reason for tardiness is many people fear of being early.

Contrast late arrival to the opposite activity, being early. We all know somebody like this. They arrive at the movie theatre 30 minutes early and end up “cooling their heels” in the company of a hundred rowdy preteens jumping, welling and waiting for the launch of the next Pixel’s movie. They arrive at parties so early, they park around the corner waiting for the clock to strike seven before they pull into the host’s driveway.

Combining the tardy and the prompt leads to embarrassing moments. As a person with latent lateness tendencies, prompt guests to my social gatherings often find themselves assigned to last minute party set up. It’s almost like they volunteer to fill up the ice bucket and set out the bowls of pork skins and peanuts.  Some have even been call on to start the grill and light the tikki torches. Further, a few of those who tolerate my late arrivals have gone so far as to tell me to arrive at events 15 minutes ahead of the real start time; which bridges the time travel continuum nicely.

Bridging back to those structures spanning our river, I find the whole bridge thing in the QCA to be fascinating. Indulge me in a few bridge facts.

Did you know that the ancient Government Bridge is not the first crossing? The current bridge is the fourth such structure to cross the Mississippi in this approximate location. The first one, built about 1500 feet upstream from the current site, was completed in 1856 and was the first train bridge across the Mississippi. It played a critical role in westward development and some say played a part in bringing on the Civil War.  Abe Lincoln came to the QCA as an attorney in a case pitting the rail road interest against the river boat industry. The bridge we cross was built in 1896 and designed for trains and horse drawn wagon traffic.

The I-74 Bridge was originally named the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge and was built in 1935. It was a single bridge until 1959 when its “twin” bridge was added to increase traffic flow.  Not to be outdone by Moline, the City of Rock Island funded the Centennial Bridge in 1938.  Both of these bridges were toll bridges in their early days. In fact, many of you may remember the Centennial Bridge as a toll bridge. My own kids sometimes refer to it as the fifty cent bridge, because back in the day it cost a half dollar to cross and whenever the attendant made change they handed out half dollar pieces. The kids loved them.

Armed with all this information, we can only wonder back to the days of our parents and grandparents. Imagine the Quad-Cities with but one bridge. Wonder how many used bridge stories as their excuse for being late to an important meeting way back then?   Times have changed, maybe… Just saying…