Thursday, January 19, 2006

And I looked and I saw that it was good

Date: January 18
Mileage: 18
Ride type: Commute
January mileage: 142
Year to date mileage:142

Praise god and pass the ammunition. Somebody finally plowed the Highway 55 bridge bikepath for the first time this year. Yesterday morning I churned my way through and broke a sweat doing so. I was prepared to do it again last night, but no. When I left the street in Fort Snelling and started riding toward the bridge I steeled myself for the upcoming effort. But, as I turned the corner I noticed tire tracks on either side of the trail, and a noticeable absence of ruts. A plow! I knew the bike portion of the bridge was too narrow to get a truck with a conventional plow through, so I figured I would still need to slog across the snowy bridge. But it looks like somebody took an actual snowblower and made a couple of passes across. It's not down to the pavement, but it's still gorgeous. I need to figure out which municipality did this so I can extend the appropriate kudos. I'm thinking it's Mendota, but I'm not sure.

3 comments:

Tuffy said...

Are you talking about the Mendota Bridge when you say "Hwy 55 bridge"? If so, the most likely plowing culprit is the state, since Highway 55 is a state highway.

Frostbike said...

I am talking about the Mendota Bridge. I was initially thinking the state too, but the mystery plower/snowblower also hit the trail on either end which isn't really state jurisdiction. And I'm not sure that the path, being separated by a concrete wall from the highway, falls under the state's realm.

Yon Saucy Wench said...

Does Mendota Heights have a parks & rec dept? Maybe they did it?