Crossing bridges and going through tunnels bothers a lot of people. Not me, even after the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Always stay particularly alert crossing bridges and going through tunnels but no panic or fear even when someone else in the car exhibits it.

Going from Virginia's Eastern Shore to The Big City involves either the Eastern Shore route – 13 to 50 and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge – or the southern route going across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, through Norfolk and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, then up I-64 and I-95. Really do not like the southern route. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is always clear and a delightful experience but the Hampton Road Bridge Tunnel is backed up at all hours of the day. Always miserable. And the interstates and me just do not agree.

Our last trip home we got stuck behind a terrible accident on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Just as we got to Annapolis and were about ten miles from the tool booths, hit a wall of red lights. Went back and tried the next day. Still a two and a half hour delay so we suffered through the southern route. It was the kind of accident that people have nightmares about. The perfect storm. Some work was being done on the bridge so a few lanes were closed and there was two way traffic on one of the spans. About four on Sunday morning, a young woman coming home from a wedding fell asleep coming over the bridge. She crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a truck. The truck driver tried to avoid but hit the jersey wall to his right, careened into the railing on the other side which gave way, and he ended up thirty feet down in a shallow portion of the Bay beneath the bridge. Still deep enough to cover the cab but the top of the truck stuck out over the water. The truck driver died. The link is worth reading, how life can be so ironic The woman (looks like she got a fine of $325) and occupants of another car were not seriously injured.

The Bay Bridge is 186 feet above the water at its tallest point. That is a long way to fall. I was at the Naval Academy from '54 to '58. Back then they had some N3N's, Yellow Perils, that they gave Midshipmen flight introduction in. One of my lessons involved the pilot flying next to the Bay Bridge but the cars went faster than we did. The Bay Bridge is a lot safer than that old dinosaur of a plane but not nearly as much fun.

Now they are thinking of making the railings safer and even building a new span. Anyway, it will be better than ever and nothing to fear. And we will certainly go over it rather than really risk our lives on I-64 and I-95.