Bridges over troubled waters (4:50 edit)

What could be timelier than this piece? Considering the collapse of the I 35 W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis earlier this week, John Ryan's documentary about a new bridge that opened last month over the Tacoma Narrows in Washington state takes on an eerie resonance. In fact, the new bridge in Tacoma replaces the infamous "Galloping Gertie" suspension bridge that tore apart under gale-force winds in November 1940. One can only hope that the Narrows' troubled waters don't make for another catastrophe seven decades later.

In any case, Ryan's interviews of ironworkers concentrate on the extreme challenges of bridge building. Along with fierce, icy currents tossing basketball-sized boulders at divers attempting to erect underwater seven-story-tall caissons, giant octopi haunt the deep, as if in a realistic reenactment of Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."

One ironworker, Earl White, recalls a coworker plunging to his death from atop a bridge suspension cable with a bang that sounded like an artillery piece. A smiling octogenarian, White holds up a photo of his fellow bridge builders in the photo accompanying this drop-in. His smile betrays none of the dark horrors and fear of "the bends" he experienced as a young man.

Now, while the public eye is focused on our nation's deteriorating infrastructure, program directors may want to acquaint listeners with what goes into building bridges, let alone maintaining them. If only the Pope as "pontifex maximus," supreme bridge builder, could exert his authority to span rivers with the help of God, we would all benefit. Until or unless that happens, we need to know about the labor of human ironworkers, divers and catwalk treaders who link shores and, God willing, bring us safely together.