Lights aren't the problem

I sympathize with both the impatience and irritation for the drivers of the bridge. In fact, I experience these thoughts daily from 90 miles away. The lucky thing for you is that it’s temporary.

At the same time, your problem never had to be a problem. There is no defendable reason that an alternate route over the top of the dam couldn’t have been provided by the Bureau of Reclamation. I’m certain they developed their security reasoning in a brainstorming session titled ‘What excuses can we use to keep people off the roadway over the dam?’

I travel by Hoover Dam, and on an hourly basis there are hundreds who drive their vehicles over the top of the dam every day. If you weren’t aware, the Bureau of Reclamation operates Hoover. Yes, closure is in Grand Coulee Dam’s security plan, but it was developed in 2001 when we all wondered if any of our infrastructure would survive the Terrorists. I now wonder if the Grand Coulee Dam plan has been reviewed in 25 years. Better yet, it would be nice to know what credible threats they’ve experienced here in a quarter century.

Anyway, I sympathize with you all for both problems, the second being much greater than the first, I’m afraid.

Mick Palanuk

Liberty Lake