Take It to the Bridge

The long-awaited Stillwater bridge is officially underway and the politicians were there in force with their shovels:

Joining ceremonies near the old bridge were Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson, and Wisconsin U.S. Reps. Sean Duffy and Ron Kind. Minnesota was represented by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle.

It's long since past time for the bridge to be built, of course -- the ancient Stillwater Lift Bridge has been a problem for many, many years and this crossing will make it a whole lot easier for travelers to go from Minnesota to Wisconsin. It will also make life in Stillwater a lot easier.

One politician who was conspicuous by her absence was Cong. Betty McCollum, who ostensibly represents the Stillwater area and fought the bridge project with significant rancor. I'll give McCollum this much -- it would have been pretty ridiculous for a foe of the project to celebrate the groundbreaking.