In 1999, my parents bought a boat.  It was a gorgeous 24-foot Sea Ray.  This purchase began a two-year period marked by great fun and greater expenses due to fuel and maintenance.  Usually the first step taken after buying a boat of that size is locating a marina to dock it in when not in use, as hauling and keeping it at home would have been horrendously difficult and impractical.  We decided to keep it at Wolf Marine, a large, but relatively quiet marina slightly north of downtown Stillwater, Minnesota.  Its proximity to the downtown area meant that passage beneath the city’s lift bridge was a routine step in traveling south on the river on the way to popular island beaches accessible only to boaters.

Our boat’s low height above the water – freeboard, in technical terms – meant that we usually could fit underneath the bridge without needing to wait for the middle section to lift.  In fact, the only times we ever needed to wait for the bridge to lift was in the spring, when the last of the melted snow water and heavy rains temporarily swelled the river.

Obviously, news that the Stillwater Lift Bridge will remain raised and closed to traffic in the event of a state shutdown has a personal connection to me.  I am dismayed to hear that this will be the case if the government shuts down, mainly due to the fact that a Minneapolis Star Tribune article states that 18,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily, while “dozens” of large boats cross beneath it each day.  This is because the state considers river navigation to be more important than traffic.  I shouldn’t consider this much of a surprise considering the fact that the state seems to currently prioritize rail transit over roads, but that’s another issue.  The river navigation that occurs underneath the bridge is recreational in nature.  The river is a federally protected waterway and tugs and barges are nonexistent.  It’s ludicrous to prioritize recreational travel and recreational use of the environment over work-based travel.  If the state government shuts down, I would prefer to see the bridge remain down so that a bad commute is not worsened for those that use the bridge on a daily basis.  It would allow those who dock their boats north of the bridge to have a reason to explore the wonders of the vacant, serene, and absolutely gorgeous stretch of river north of the lift bridge.