Pedestrian sights: A bridge sign and a sidewalk plea
Posted on July 1st, 2009 – 6:35 PMBy Roadguy
Roadguy’s colleague Emma Jaye often commutes on foot, and she’s once again utilized the camera on her phone to prove that you do indeed see more when you walk. For one thing, there’s this sign on the Stone Arch Bridge:
Translation: Bridge to be mob scene during fireworks.
This more curious sign is on a sidewalk a few blocks away:
Emma Jaye writes:
Something odd I noticed on the way home from work: a fence around a long piece of pipe with a number to call if the red light was on. Luckily, it wasn’t on.
This seems like a rather unusual request to make of passersby. (”Pull over, honey, and grab the phone — the red light is on!”) I haven’t called the number yet — I thought I’d first see whether any of the infrastructure geeks in our studio audience know what this is about. If so, please make use of the comments below.
6 Responses to "Pedestrian sights: A bridge sign and a sidewalk plea"
There’s another one like that at the SE corner of eastbound Minnehaha Pkwy & Stevens Ave - without the fence.
Natural gas pipe? And the red light is hooked up to a leak detector?
My only similar observation with the red lights is seeing the same signs at sewer lift stations. What’s lurking just below that fence??
There used to be another one of those “if the red light is on…” boxes in Bryant Park near Lyndale and Lake. Not sure if it is still there.
The red light is indeed related to a sewage line maintenance project. The facility in the photo is there to “de-water” a sewage tunnel under downtown and the surrounding area so crews can work there. This information came from a city Public Works staffer via the Minneapolis Issues Forum.
The photo also reminds me of an episode of the History Channel’s “Life after People” that I watched last weekend. It focused on the city of St. Louis and its combined sewer and storm water system. It’s in need of major repair and people are already experiencing backups into their homes after large rain events which are common here in the Midwest.
I’ve noticed a lot of underground utility work around town lately. Our infrastructure is very important and in constant need of maintenance. If we ignore it we will face consequences that will not be easy to live with.
This is one of the reasons that our Governor’s short sighted actions continue to boggle my mind.
“This is one of the reasons that our Governor’s short sighted actions continue to boggle my mind.”
Short-sighted, yes, but it’s not mind-boggling, it makes perfect sense: Most of the infrastructure won’t crumble until after he leaves office. Of course, I can’t say that his thinking any worse than most politicians.
