Clever Bikes Overtake Foolish Cars

Yesterday as I was riding to work – much later than I’d planned, thanks to you guys out there and my pathological compulsion to write this blog – I came to the Broadway Bridge and it was UP. (This only happens when you're running behind to begin with.) By the car stack-up that had already accumulated, I could tell it had already been up for a while. The other clue was that whatever tall floating vessel it had been raised for was long gone. I rode up to the clump of other cyclists waiting at the front of the line on the separated sidewalk/ bike path part of the bridge. The bridge lowered and the barriers started to open but then closed again. A voice on the loud speaker said something about “.. a problem with the bridge.”

I wasted no time flipping my bike around, and as I wended my way back among all the totally stuck-there cars, I couldn’t help thinking: “Ha. Ha. Ha.”

I shouted out to another cyclist headed toward the bridge “The bridge is stuck!” He said, “Again?!” and turned to follow me. I looked back and saw the other cyclists coming too. We were all headed over to the Steel Bridge a few blocks away. We lost no time. Who knows how long those cars were all trapped there, with absolutely no way to turn around.

I took this picture of the Broadway Bridge from the Steel Bridge. It looks kind of goofy -- I can't figure out what's wrong with it. Is that the way it normally looks? I’ll go back and check later when it's working properly. (That white thing behind it is the Fremont Bridge, which is much further away.)