The Bridges of San Mateo County
Posted by Rosalie McCloud
on May 23, 2016
Today's meeting gave us some insight into our local aging infrastructure and the work currently being done on four of San Mateo's railway bridges. The cost to refurbish/reconstruct/update the four San Mateo overpasses is $43 million...
Pledge of Allegiance & Invocation
“Let’s get the party started!” intoned our fearless leader, either excited about the long weekend ahead or that there are a mere four meetings remaining of his inspired leadership.
We faced the colors as instructed and Cheryl Fama led us in the pledge. The invocation was delivered by Mike Horowitz who ended with “Go Warriors!” We should say so!!!!
Visiting Rotarians & Guests of the Club
Guest of the club was Robert Doyle, son of Mary Murphy. Was a visiting Rotarian but is now an honored member of the Club is Pete Wanger who donated two tickets to be raffled, and won by Dennis Zell. Wow! Thanks, Pete Wanger!
For some strange reason, Mark Johnson was not only on time but 35 minutes early. See, Mark, you can do it. More Mark, please. Maybe he stayed overnight?
Announcements
Short-timer President Barry announced that the Board has approved the purchase of a tree to be planted in Pershing Park in memory of Dave Carr. A ceremony will be scheduled at the park once the tree is planted, on a Monday preceding our meeting.
The Board also approved a new design of our new trading flag. It’s adorable with a cute little train station on it. Peter Comaroto and his committee are busily arranging the details of the visit by Japanese Exchange Students, arriving on July 21.There is a welcome dinner planned for July 23 at the home of Suzanne Juptner. Rotarians are invited to attend at a cost of $30.00 each.
Jennifer Pence conducted a raffle of the remaining donated items including four meals at Hobee’s, a fun day at Pier 39, Season tickets to the Burlingame Dragons, and a day at a tennis clinic.
Seventeen folks have signed up for the Mystery Dinner at the LaMariana home on August 21. Cost is $100 per person and there are three spots remaining.
Spotlight
Jim Kirks of the Burlingame Dragons was introduced. Jim is the Director of Marketing and Operations. The Burlingame Dragons are at the entry level of professional soccer teams, like any farm league. They are affiliated with the San Jose Earthquakes who provide coaching. The key demographic is the ten-year-old, so lots of families and kids are involved. The Dragons will be hosting a Community Day Burlingame High School, June 10 – 7:00 P.M. They need sponsor money and attendees, promoting family-friendly soccer. Contact Jim@BurlingameDragons.com if you can help. Thanks to the Burlingame Dragons for the four season tickets they donated for our Rotary Fiesta.
The Unabridged Bridges of San Mateo County
Paul Watermulder introduced John Rutgers and Abram McMickin who are engineers who ponder unknowables: how does water get here? What happens when gas pipelines age? San Bruno found out the answer to the latter. Abram is with ProVen Management.com and was responsible for supervising the reconstruction of the four bridges of San Mateo County that allow east-west access through our towns. These would be Tilton Avenue, Poplar Avenue, East Santa Inez, and Monte Diablo – all in San Mateo.
Aging infrastructure is taken for granted. There are 750,000 bridges in the United States, 10% of which are deficient. There are 25,000 in California with 4,000 of those in the Bay Area. Ten percent are abridged and four became unabridged. No, I have no idea what this means and we didn’t get the detailed jokes either. The speakers this month talk way above our pay grade, mine anyway.
Abram started out working at the San Francisco Zoo and ran the steam engine. Theoretically, this is where was born his interest in trains and trestles. He has spent his career learning “how to do it,” and then doing it.
Bridges Continued....
ProVen management includes as its clients BART, San Francisco Muni, and Cal-Trans. Bridges and overpasses are their thing. It cost $43 million to refurbish/reconstruct/update the four San Mateo overpasses. They were built in 1903 with the following clearances: Tilton 8' 6" Poplar 13’ Santa Inez 12’3” Monte Diablo 11.1” Vehicular traffic is a challenge, said he. (This is called a “flair for the obvious!”) Annoying how they must deal with CARS GOING ABOUT THEIR LIVES while they take the bridges apart like Tinker Toys! The story of the work done on the Tilton Overpass was accompanied by video. It looked like the trucks and cranes and trains my brothers used to play with in the dirt early the last century. The video showed a giant machine that raised the miles of track – three inches at a time!!! They worked from 1:00 A.M. Saturday to 10:00P on Sunday, so as not to excessively disrupt the annoying workweek vehicular traffic. Then, there was the 260-ton crane they needed to hoist the tracks onto the roadway. It must have been fun watching these machines being transported to the work-site through San Mateo streets. Abram expressed thanks to the neighbors who were really good sports about accommodating the increased activity in the neighborhood. He stated that the community made the project a success. These bridges are estimated to have a 200-year life span.
We pause to remember and give thanks to all those who have served and who are now serving in the armed forces to keep us safe. Your reporter’s dad was U.S. Army Air Corps, husband Navy/Korea, brother Marine’s/Vietnam – all gone now. You are in our hearts and in our prayers.
DARK MONDAY, May 30
MERCY CENTER, JUNE 6