Bridge on Minnesota Stamp Closed for Safety Reasons

The Minnesota Public Radio website reports, "Not even postage stamps could escape the big bridge debate this year in Minnesota."

As part of the state's 150th birthday celebration, the Postal Service issued a Minnesota stamp in May. On it is a photograph of the Mississippi River along with a shot of the Highway 43 bridge.

Two and a half weeks after the stamp debuted, the bridge was closed for safety reasons according to the article by Tom Weber.

Tom goes on to say, "Like the 'hanging chad' and 'IED' before it, 'gusset plates' entered Minnesotans' vocabulary with a force in January..." The plates hold steel beams together."

The U.S. House passed legislation last week that would authorize an additional $1 billion next year for bridges across the country. However, a final report in January from a presidential commission concluded the country needs to spend at least $225 billion a year, every year, for the next 50 years to build a competitive transportation system.

To read - and hear - the entire report, click here.

To view an online exhibit of Bridges on Stamps by J. E. Donald Blais, click here.