"I just published a wildly over-researched article--

August 29, 2023 7:18 AM

--about a question that has been plaguing me for months: Why is this bridge here?" The deepest of deep dives into the history of a seemingly trivial phenomenon: a footbridge over a suburban freeway south of Minneapolis. At the same time, an amazing piece of citizen research and reporting on a bit of pre-internet local history. (via)
posted by Kat Allison (55 comments total)

This is so specific to my life and interests it's scary.
posted by Think_Long at 7:32 AM on August 29, 2023 [12 favorites]

WOW. Just wow. Kudos to Mr. Vigen.
posted by davidmsc at 7:43 AM on August 29, 2023 [10 favorites]

This is amazing and delightful. It tickles all my interests and I will be sharing this link.
posted by meinvt at 7:45 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I frequently wonder about these bridges in my community. What’s so lovely about this article is that he gets to the entire freeway project and how these bridges were kind of a planning band-aid, attempting to continue the connection between communities in an age where people still walked to the store and to school. Good footnotes too.
posted by q*ben at 7:46 AM on August 29, 2023 [10 favorites]

This was great fun!
posted by mrphancy at 7:54 AM on August 29, 2023

I just had to look at the bridge on google maps, and yeah why would anyone at Grainger take the bridge to taco bell when they've got both a well-reviewed taqueria and a Culver's on their side of the highway?
posted by thecjm at 8:03 AM on August 29, 2023

This was a great read, with a satisfying conclusion! Legendary nerd status really achieved with this:

While I am dedicated to this search, I am not about to fly down to Kansas City to dig through federal archives, especially when those documents may or may not be there...

...just kidding. Of course I flew down to Kansas City to dig through the federal archives!

posted by LooseFilter at 8:04 AM on August 29, 2023 [38 favorites]

> The boxes were housed offsite in long-term storage in a bunker under a field in western Missouri.

At the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in a disused bathroom with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard"?

This is incredible and I loved every moment of it. Thanks for sharing.
posted by parm at 8:23 AM on August 29, 2023 [9 favorites]

A pleasure to have shared a bit of Mr. Vigen's obsession.
posted by cobrabay at 8:27 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is phenomenal, I love it.

Paging Jon Bois. I want to see this translated into a Google maps video.
posted by Reyturner at 8:27 AM on August 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Bridge history is fascinating. Here’s another really unique one over the river in St Paul called the Seventh Street Improvement Arches that are historically significant. They run through the old Connemara Patch/Swede Hollow neighborhood which are themselves historically significant.

I love these bits of history that you pass by without realizing how important they are.
posted by misterpatrick at 8:27 AM on August 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

On many occasions I have immersed myself in this sort of resolute research on an obscure topic; I have wondered whether a meta article about the research process could be engaging. Given how interesting this write-up is, I am tempted to try it sometime, as there are often lots of fascinating discoveries that cannot be reasonably used in the final article (e.g., strange pages in responses to FOIA requests, off-topic asides, etc.). Well done, Tyler Vigen.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 8:45 AM on August 29, 2023 [14 favorites]

I never followed through on this (although I'm not dead yet, so there's still time), but many years ago my kids asked about those pedestrian bridges (maybe even that one on 494!) and I told them we should have a summer project to drive to all of them and walk across them just to let the bridges know they had a purpose (kind of like the Little Red Lighthouse).
posted by Ickster at 8:47 AM on August 29, 2023 [7 favorites]

So tenacious! I love this. It's also interesting that Richfield and Bloomington were once Bloomfield.
posted by umbú at 8:55 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is so delightful, and actually has a lot of profound things to say about archival research, e.g. the difficulty of full-text searching when you don't know the right keywords to use; the value of oral history; the helpfulness of archivists; the surprising usefulness of 9th-grade school assignments (and amateur local history more generally); and this little pearl of wisdom:

I showed the bridge to Janel and asked how she would solve the mystery of why it was built. She told me to stop looking at old documents: "no one writes down the real reason for infrastructure projects." She said I needed to look for people in power.

posted by verstegan at 8:56 AM on August 29, 2023 [36 favorites]

So he's just going to take the Mayor's word for it?
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:01 AM on August 29, 2023

I just want to say that I loved this. By the end of it, I was leaning right forward in my seat anxiously hoping he would find confirmation for his theory about the church and school.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:01 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

If you're trying to remember why Tyler Vigen's name seems familiar, Spurious Correlations (previously) might be the reason.
posted by fedward at 9:08 AM on August 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

This feels like it came from the late 90s Internet. It's like a warm hug.
posted by Plutor at 9:09 AM on August 29, 2023 [26 favorites]

This is why the internet (and Metafilter) exist. THANKS!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:23 AM on August 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

This is the greatest! Thank goodness he didn't talk to Janel 'til the very end and took the scenic route so that we got to read part of that kid's history paper.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:27 AM on August 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

This was wonderful, thank you for sharing it! I just sent the article to a co-worker who is getting her masters in archival studies.
posted by indexy at 9:39 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I showed the bridge to Janel and asked how she would solve the mystery of why it was built. She told me to stop looking at old documents: "no one writes down the real reason for infrastructure projects." She said I needed to look for people in power. Specifically, if I want to prove my theory, I should look for people who would be connected to both the church and the bridge.

That’s a life lesson right there.

Man that was a sweet read. The level of detail and citation and historical research makes me tear up. How connected we all are. Thank you !
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:40 AM on August 29, 2023 [7 favorites]

This reminds me a little of something Robert Caro said about Robert Moses. It's not about traffic density and planning for future population growth or any of the usual urban planning stuff, "Highways get built because Robert Moses wants them built there.".

Why did the bridge get built? The mayor wanted it there.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:22 AM on August 29, 2023 [9 favorites]

Twin Cities local that ends up down there frequently checking in. If I was at Grainger, I wouldn't take that bridge to Taco Bell, but only because Andele is also within walking distance too. Of course, if I were going to Andele, I'd walk alongside Nicollet and save myself those stairs.

It's really interesting to think about how not only did the highway divide those two communities, but the strip malls that line the highway have even further divided the housing and the church/school that used to be a single neighborhood.
posted by advicepig at 10:42 AM on August 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

I wonder how chuffed young Howard Kyllo would have been to know his 9th grade history report would one day be pivotal evidence in a 21st century civic infrastructure investigation?
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:43 AM on August 29, 2023 [24 favorites]

That was phenomenal. What a great research article! The notes were especially great and worth every side trip.
posted by ceejaytee at 10:44 AM on August 29, 2023

That was so much fun! I was skipping past all the footnotes because I never read footnotes in research articles, until I saw he put a note after “stairs - which are not known for being conducive to bicyclists.” Then I realized that the notes were also awesome.

This is the sort of thing my dad would have loved - I wish he were still around for me to share it with him. Great find!
posted by Mchelly at 11:22 AM on August 29, 2023 [7 favorites]

I don't think I've ever rooted for a bridge to have an origin story, but I was absolutely rooting for that bridge to have an origin story.
posted by COD at 11:31 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Excellent work, Mr Vigen. You're a man after my own heart.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:31 AM on August 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I feel like I need to find a reason to go dig around in federal archives buried under fields now just for the experience
posted by jason_steakums at 12:00 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

An amazing story. Also amazing how the purpose mostly slipped out of the collective memory of the place and he was deep into it before the school came to his awareness.

I know stories like this for my home town for construction 100 years ago where there aren't any first hand witnesses left alive. I also know there are mysteries that we just haven't been able to unravel. EG: my sister's house was moved to it's current location from a few blocks away. However her basement was poured at three different times. Did her house replace a house plus addition? We don't know
posted by Mitheral at 12:01 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I found this fascinating, albeit in a different way than it seems most everyone here.

A crazy amount of research, with lots of interesting tidbits of info, but, as a transit-taking pedestrian 99% of the time who doesn't have a driver's license, it would never have occured to me to question why this bridge was there. It's there because the highway prevents people from getting to the places they used to be able to walk to and since there's no easy way to go around the highway, or cross the street, they made a bridge to go over.

I guess there aren't enough of these types of bridges though? Does it seem surprising to car-drivers, or am I just missing the point?

The story is an interesting read though.
posted by Laura in Canada at 12:12 PM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Bravo! It's pieces like this that have kept me from abandoning the internet altogether.
posted by smcdow at 12:17 PM on August 29, 2023

I guess there aren't enough of these types of bridges though? Does it seem surprising to car-drivers, or am I just missing the point?.

Yes, the general lack of them, and the random placement is a question to walkers, and considering the random placement and the bottom-of-the-barrel design, which contributes to lack of use and looking ugly, they are probably questioned by drivers too.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:37 PM on August 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

It's there because the highway prevents people from getting to the places they used to be able to walk to and since there's no easy way to go around the highway, or cross the street, they made a bridge to go over.

I guess there aren't enough of these types of bridges though? Does it seem surprising to car-drivers, or am I just missing the point?

Generally, in my experience as both a walker and a driver, pedestrian only bridges are pretty rare -- usually pedestrians just get sidewalks on the side of car bridges not stand alone things. So anytime I see a standalone pedestrian bridge, I always assume there must be some significant concrete reason why it had to be built in that specific spot instead of the car-centric planners just leaving it to pedestrians to walk to wherever the nearest car overpass is.

There's one near my mother's place on the North Shore of Vancouver, and I have also always wondered why it was there, precisely. From the highway it doesn't seem to join much. But I just went and looked at the map, and there's a subdivision on one side of the highway and a school on the other, so I'm pretty sure that's the answer.

Ottawa is currently pissed off because they just built a useful new pedestrian bridge but they are not planning to let anyone use it for 3 years.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:56 PM on August 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

I guess there aren't enough of these types of bridges though? Does it seem surprising to car-drivers, or am I just missing the point?

There are a handful of bridges like this in my city. With the exception of one they are all at least 5-6km from other crossings.
posted by Mitheral at 1:30 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed this, thank you. This piece of his background is also good: "Believe it or not, I was specifically trained by the military as a geo-spatial analyst to identify bridges in black and white aerial photographs taken in the 1960s".
posted by paduasoy at 3:15 PM on August 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

Really good read, thanks for posting!
My next door neighbor is in her eighties, she's lived there since she was about 9 years old, and her grandmother bought the building shortly after it was built in about 1912. That's not a long time by some communities, but to have an ear into the past like that is fascinating to me.
posted by winesong at 4:59 PM on August 29, 2023

Such a great read!

Also

Metafilter: From here on out though, it is stubbornness.
posted by Gorgik at 5:40 PM on August 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I loved reading this. Thanks for sharing.
posted by hepta at 6:09 PM on August 29, 2023

Up until this point, it was curiosity. From here on out though, it is stubbornness.

Been there. I deeply respect this attitude when used for good and noble ends such as this. Thanks for posting this, Kat Allison!
posted by bryon at 6:32 PM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Wonderful research project! I'm reminded of when I went to the city archives to find maps of my city's storm drain system looking for places to recreationally trespass, and all I found was handwritten inventories of concrete, brick, gravel, etc.
posted by signsofrain at 6:45 PM on August 29, 2023

I spent my youth admiring and sometimes playing on the bridges of Hennepin County. There are quite a few of these in and around the Twin Cities.
posted by tovarisch at 7:06 PM on August 29, 2023

This is easily the best thing I've seen on the internet in ages and ages.
posted by chasles at 7:27 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

At the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in a disused bathroom with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard"?

Nah, its probably next to the government cheese mines.
posted by pwnguin at 7:49 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Naw I got the joke, I just think real life is funnier. Though I guess the cheese caves are in Springfield, not KC.
posted by pwnguin at 8:03 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I found this fascinating, thank you so much for sharing!
posted by lepus at 8:05 PM on August 29, 2023

Missouri.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:50 PM on August 29, 2023

Literally was driving my husband to the airport via 494 and passed this bridge the other day. Thought to myself fleetingly, "why is there a ped bridge there....???" and then the thought drifted away.
posted by Malla at 11:55 AM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Hot damn. This is - in point of fact - the best of the web. (As someone who wonders off and on about odd bits of local infrastructure, this was an immensely satisfying read.)
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 12:22 AM on August 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

And what's amazing is that this is only the a-bridged version.

(It's delightful, thanks for sharing!)
posted by eponym at 6:44 AM on August 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

This was an awesome read. Thanks for posting!
posted by atlantica at 12:13 PM on August 31, 2023

For a 63-year old bridge that the state has likely never spent a dime to maintain, it looks surprisingly good!
posted by schmod at 5:32 AM on September 1, 2023

Here is another footbridge over an interstate near where I used to work in South Carolina.
posted by mareli at 6:28 AM on September 1, 2023