It would totally work too. Come to think of it, a car wash would probably do a good deal of business on the bridge as well -- just set up the automatic drive thru car wash thingy at the place on the bridge where we all "merge" getting on to I-5 north -- viola! You are still late for work, but your car is clean and you have a latte. I'm sure there are lots of other good ideas , n'est-ce pas?
These are the important things that pass through my mind while I sit on the bridge.
Back to the point of this blog -- all you really need to know is clearly illustrated in the "visual" below. Visual compliments of visualthesaurus.com/ *Copyright ©1998-2013 Thinkmap, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
In case you are confused by the above "visual", allow me to explain --The thin line, connecting the "traffic jam" with the "snarl-up", represents the bridge. The red dot indicates the suggested location for the drive thru Starbucks on the bridge. What is missing is the car wash and the ba-zillion commuters, but all that would make the visual too busy and not pleasing to the eye.
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What you see here is the highest point of the bridge, which is mid-span.
This was taken looking West. Going West on the bridge is easy peasy. |
Here I present my rant for the day:
Oh how I love crossing the West Seattle bridge during morning rush hour -- it is the absolute highlight of my day! Taking in the amazing vistas -- the cement plant, the steel plant, the stacks of rusting containers on Harbor Island. I'm utterly transported as I deeply inhale the scents of fresh car exhaust and dust. What a joy it is to spend 30 minutes crossing a half mile long bridge. At that speed, of 1 mile an hour, I'm given the opportunity to practice mindfulness -- and trim my hangnails. Never for a minute does it piss me off that, at one mile an hour, I could cross the bridge more quickly hopping on one foot than driving in my car. It's so awesome to see all the smiling faces of my bridge buddies -- oodles of them behind me, in front of me, beside me -- they are all so taken in with the beauty of the colorful, flashing, brake lights, that they sometimes fail to see me waving and extending my daily greeting ... "Howdy there! Nice seeing you again! How's it going?" These are my peeps, my neighbors, and I'm so lucky to get the opportunity to spend so much time camping out with them. In fact, I spend more uninterrupted time parked on the bridge with my fellow commuters than I do with my own husband! That is truly a blessing in disguise because I simply adore all of them! When they cut me off I think how frustrated they must be that they are running late -- I just know they have somewhere more important to go than I do and it doesn't bother me at all that they are more concerned about their needs than mine. What a joyful way to start the day! Not a minute of my life is wasted -- even though I rarely, if ever, get to my destination on time -- it just reminds me how important it is to remember that life is a journey, not a destination. With that in mind, coming to a complete stand still midspan never leads me to check the clock or say unholy words. You may think it gets old, day after day, driving across the bridge, like little ants, or lemmings, or cattle. But why would I find this monotonous? With all the bounty this commute gives to me daily? I absolutely heart the West Seattle bridge!
Today's traffic-- luckily the day is GORGEOUS!
