Tag Archives: bridges

Places

Fake explosion at Key Bridge over Potomac on Wednesday

This Wednesday, March 23, a fake explosion will take place at or near the Key Bridge over the Potomac River, in Washington, DC, between 9:30 am and noon. A new TV show called “Washington Field” is being filmed there. One of the scenes in the pilot involves a sculling boat that blows up.

Key Bridge over Potomac

The explosion will yield a 20-30 foot fireball which should injure no one if everything goes according to plan. The Potomac Boat Club, founded in 1869, is right at the foot of the bridge, so I think it’s in the plot as well.

A short video of mine, filmed in the spring of 2007, and titled Washington DC Panoramic, features the Key Bridge.

Washington DC Panoramic from Raoul Pop on Vimeo.

[via Reuters]

Standard
Thoughts

Another point of view about ferryboats

Nowadays, people think a ferry is a romantic way to get over a river, but in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, people used to think otherwise.

A ferry ride

A ferry ride

For a great look back in time, watch “Bridge Ahoy“, a Popeye cartoon released on May 1, 1936. In it, Bluto overcharges passengers for rides on his ferry, so Popeye, Olive and Wimpy decide to build a bridge and let people cross the river for free.

You see, when you’re the only way to get across a river, you’ve got a monopoly. You control the market and set your own price. Before monopoly laws, it’s probably what happened with ferryboats, and it didn’t sit well with the cash-strapped folks of the mid-1930s. If we had only ferryboats to get across rivers nowadays, we’d no doubt share the same feelings.

Things worked out in the cartoon and the three delivered a bridge made to order. Everyone was happy except Bluto, the ferryboat owner, which was as expected.

Of course, if we carry this solution over to modern times, it breaks down right away. You see, we get charged to go over bridges nowadays. Kind of makes the point of building a bridge to avoid ferry tolls moot, doesn’t it?

Standard
Places

Washington DC panoramic

In May of 2007, I happened to be at the top of the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA. That hotel has the most amazing view of DC and Arlington from its ballroom, which sits right on top of it and has floor to ceiling windows.

I also just happened to have a video camera and tripod with me (ahem), and took some footage of the DC skyline, the Key Bridge, and the Potomac River. That footage sat around on my computer till last week, when I finally had the time to edit it properly and to work on a soundtrack for the video.

This video is the result. You can download it below, or view it at Vimeo or YouTube. (The soundtrack doesn’t sound as good at YouTube, their compression isn’t that great.)

➡ Download Washington DC Panoramic (720×540, MOV, 2:16)

By the way, I took this photo that same evening, from the roof of the building. The hospitality manager was a really nice guy and he let me go up and spend about 15 minutes taking photos up there.

Standard