The genesis of a creation

Somewhere in the blackness of night, brilliant pinpoints of bluish light flicker in the distance, shining thru doorways as a storm starts to roll in. Distant rumbles of thunder precede flickering bolts of lightening on the horizon, and the wind begins to stir. Inside of a very large and unassuming industrial building, something massive is finally taking shape. Workers wielding welding torches began to bond together the foundations of something great and mighty to come. In a workshop of a modern day Doctor Frankenstein, a monster is being created. But this particular Dr. Frankenstein works in concrete, steel and other building materials, rather than in dead flesh. The base castle laboratory is located in Omaha, Nebraska, rather than on top of a hill in some European village. Yet the intended creation will be no less monstrous and no less jaw dropping than that creature that was cobbled together out of various parts. In addition, its completed form will strike sheer terror into some unfortunate people.

In this one of many of Igor’s hired contractor’s workshops, the underlying structures of the monster, the soles of its feet, if you will, are being fabricated. Enormous steel piles some 200 feet long, will be driven deep into the river bed to securely anchor the monster bridge’s enormous bulk, including its main towers, it will rise some 600 feet or more from the water’s surface and loom high over Baltimore’s harbor. So after all this time, finally we see something that is actually going to be a part of the new Key Bridge, rather than just a simple scale model or two. I stop in at that update site ever so often, especially now that activity has begun in earnest. Like most everyone else there, I look forwards to the day the monster is completed. Most do not believe it will be completed within the projected deadline (fall of 2028), and I am also dubious. Most want it finished because they need a quick path across the river, or they are being forced to suffer longer commutes in the area because of extra congestion. I am wanting to see the finished monster (and naturally drive over it) for a very different reason altogether…which I will delve into more later.

But in the mean time, I am anticipating visiting another, much smaller such monster lurking near the coast of Maine. This one has a leftover piece of its “spine” displayed in the small park that surrounds its western approach. I will be going there in about a week or so.