Building Bridges

No...I really mean building bridges...it's kind of an amazing thing.

Recent Road Construction in Albany
Like most commuters, construction traffic can be a pain in the neck.  But a recent construction project in Albany went extremely smoothly and quickly and caused very few delays or annoyances.  And the results are quite astounding.

Perhaps if you work in road construction, the conversion of an intersection to an overpass is no big deal, even if it's required that the entire project be built with few or no road closings.

And this includes exit ramps, signage, road painting as well as temporary roads, detour signs (that make sense) and keeping all the construction workers and drivers safe, even during crappy weather (and dozens of other things I wouldn't even consider as a laymen).

Here was the basic project...turn this intersection:

...into this overpass...

I stay on Washington Avenue in Albany when I'm working up there, and I have to get on a local highway.  It used to be that I would approach the intersection from the East (the right side of the photos above) and make a right at the light onto Fuller Road.  It was a complex light with multiple left-hand turn lights and lots of lanes going every which way.  Now I just take an easy exit before the new bridge to access the same on-ramp.

But the thing that amazes me is the artistry of this kind of construction.  Elevations, traffic flow design, mechanical engineering, paving, signage...I can't even imagine all that goes into such a complex feat as this.  And it all seems to have come off without a hitch from this commuters perspective.

Here's a brief video of some of the artistry (and I thought designing and knitting a sweater required skills!).




Current Knitting
I've completed a total of 62 of the 66 color stripes on the Milano Blanket...only FOUR more to go!!

Looks like I will get a chance to use the blanket this Winter (in ways other than draping it on my lap whilst knitting).  After the last four stripes, all I have is a small border (long, but just a narrow border).