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San Francisco, 8:17 AM
Sun Nov 22
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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    William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real

    Is The Bike City An Alternate Universe, Or A Glimpse Of Your Urban Future?

    The Same Cityscape According To Star Trek And Terminator Salvation

    Video Games Are The Forefront Of Futuristic City Design

    Under the New Gaian Regime, No Roof May Lie Fallow

    Kibera's "Instant Farm" System Is the Future of Urban Agriculture

    A Twelve-Layer Freeway Clover for Los Angeles

    Photo-Surrealist Favelas Metastasize in the Citiscape

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of KaneFeldman KaneFeldman
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real


    I suggest cutting the idea down to size, recycle the cantilever section and build a park on the causeway.

    I'm a horticulturalist, I would sign up in a heartbeat. During the 1990s I was employed by an industrial historian, doing private research on Bay Area infrastructure from the gold rush to the present and I wrote the following letter promoting this idea to the Berkeley Daily Planet in 2006.... (Please ignore the idea of a "backup bridge.")

    9.01.2006

    Berkeley Daily Planet
    Save the old San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge!
    BAY BRIDGE

    Editors, Daily Planet:

    Now that the bids for the final section of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge are being considered, perhaps we should start a campaign to preserve the existing eastern span, for logistic as well as historical reasons. It would be a backup bridge in the event the new one is a failure and it would be a nice place to walk or ride bicycles and picnic. Saving the old bridge
    would be a nice homage to the builders of the 1930s and a prudent effort perhaps, considering the problems we’ve had building a new one.

    Hank Chapot
     Reply
    NerD: R.O.A.C.H. approved this comment KaneFeldman was starred KaneFeldman was unstarred
    Image of MarieChthonius MarieChthonius
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    The bridge is being replaced is because it's seismically unstable. It's already slated to be torn down. It will not be retrofitted. It will not be any sort of 'community' or park. Adding homes on the bridge would put more weight on it than the cars that cross it now. If it does collapse or fall apart, it would potentially damage the new bridge, too. Because of the proximity of the old bridge to the new bridge, you'd have to be off your nut to want to live on it, anyway. You're essentially living 20 feet from a busy freeway, arguably the busiest bridge in the US if not the world.

    Also, as someone else mentioned, that span of bridge is miles long. It's not like some dinky foot bridge in Podunk, France. There would be no western approach to the bridge to get to a 'bicycle community' anyway, you'd have to enter from the Oakland side.

    As for the new bridge being ugly, it's not done yet. Give it a chance. The single-point suspension segment will give it the iconic look you all seek. Besides, simple bridges can be just as iconic as elaborate ones. Look at the Coronado bridge in San Diego.
     Reply
    NerD: R.O.A.C.H. approved this comment MarieChthonius was starred MarieChthonius was unstarred
    Image of BadUncle BadUncle
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    They could get around earthquake dangers by simply moving the bridge / community to Lake Havasu.
     Reply
    BadUncle was starred BadUncle was unstarred
    Image of OrenRhadamanthys OrenRhadamanthys
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Has anyone noticed that the renderings are remarkably similar to Moshe Safdie's Habitat '67, built in Montreal? Seriously, image search it...
     Reply
    NerD: R.O.A.C.H. approved this comment OrenRhadamanthys was starred OrenRhadamanthys was unstarred
    Image of Boas_MC Boas_MC
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Having walked along the High Line in NYC not too long ago, I have to say that turning portions of the bridge into a park is pretty appealing.

    That being said, of course the seismic issues seem pretty daunting. Does anyone know of a cost estimate for retrofitting the old span?
     Reply
    Edited by Boas_MC at 09/15/09 11:06 AM Boas_MC was starred Boas_MC was unstarred
    Image of robomiller robomiller
    09/16/09

    @Boas_MC: I don't know the cost, but I thought the point was that it made more sense to just build a new bridge than try to retrofit the old one. So if it's not even practical to retrofit it to make it safe for cars I don't see how it could make sense to retrofit it to make it safe to live on.
     Reply
    Boas_MC approved this comment robomiller was starred robomiller was unstarred
    Image of Boas_MC Boas_MC
    09/16/09

    @robomiller: That said, I'm curious as to what the cost actually would have been. Who knows? It might be within ol' Bill Gates's financial means...
     Reply
    Boas_MC was starred Boas_MC was unstarred
    Image of SaramaFazoole SaramaFazoole
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Earthquakes are problem, but my firth thought is, if they're going to turn the top into a park, then where are they going to put the access roads to get furniture and groceries and the like to the homes? all foot/bike communities are all very well, but A) that bridge, I believe, is really long and B) moving a queen sized bed by bike is a pain.

    Great idea in theory though.
     Reply
    Boas_MC promoted this comment Grey_Area approved this comment SaramaFazoole was starred SaramaFazoole was unstarred
    Image of Boas_MC Boas_MC
    09/15/09

    @SaramaFazoole: Maybe they can just build a giant conveyor belt running from an Ikea on Treasure Island.
     Reply
    Boas_MC was starred Boas_MC was unstarred
    Image of solOptimus solOptimus
    09/15/09

    @Boas_MC: Niven's slidewalks anyone?
     Reply
    Boas_MC promoted this comment solOptimus was starred solOptimus was unstarred
    Image of PearlPeleus PearlPeleus
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Bridge cities are not a new thing. They were abundant in Paris, France dating more than 1,500 years ago, for example. But i like the idea of a new suburbia between San Francisco and Oakland.
     Reply
    Boas_MC promoted this comment Grey_Area approved this comment PearlPeleus was starred PearlPeleus was unstarred
    Image of RosaliaDardanus RosaliaDardanus
    09/15/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    The new bridge is quite ugly. talk about technological development vs. aesthetic.
     Reply
    Boas_MC promoted this comment Grey_Area approved this comment RosaliaDardanus was starred RosaliaDardanus was unstarred
    Image of Boas_MC Boas_MC
    09/15/09

    @RosaliaDardanus: I wouldn't exactly give the old span high aesthetic marks either. But I agree they could have made the new span prettier, more iconic, less L.A.-freeway-over-water-ish.
     Reply
    Boas_MC was starred Boas_MC was unstarred
    Image of phoghat phoghat
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Not having read" Virtual Light", that same idea was in "Idoru", which is where I became familiar with it.
     Reply
    phoghat was starred phoghat was unstarred
    Image of Doctor Who? Doctor Who?
    09/15/09

    @phoghat: You've actually only read the middle book in a trilogy. "Virtual Light" is the first book, "Idoru" is the second, and the third was "All Tomorrow's Parties."
     Reply
    Doctor Who? was starred Doctor Who? was unstarred
    Image of TrueCrime TrueCrime
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Cyberspace. YouTube. And now bridge cities. What else from his books will come true?

    (YouTube is realy an interpretation on my part, what with the "footage" in Pattern Recognition. But I stand by it.)

    Of course, he whiffed on predicting cell phones, but nobody's perfect.
     Reply
    TrueCrime was starred TrueCrime was unstarred
    Image of susitucker susitucker
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    That's all pretty and stuff, but the old Oakland span of the Bay Bridge is NOT strong enough to withstand a major earthquake (hence the construction of a new and improved span), so how could it be strong enough to support housing and all of what goes with it? Talk about science fiction.

    And besides, everyone who lives in the Bay Area knows that (if and) when the new bridge is finished, the old cantilever section will be demolished and not standing strong at all.
     Reply
    Grey_Area promoted this comment susitucker was starred susitucker was unstarred
    Image of Shaftoe Shaftoe
    09/14/09

    @susitucker: Sure, ruin it with facts.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Shaftoe was starred Shaftoe was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/14/09

    @susitucker: Yeah, it's like the artists didn't think at ALL.

    Why would millions of dollars be spent on replacing a bridge if there wasn't something wrong with it, some good reason to go to all that trouble? They think municipalities go around doing giant projects just for the hell of it?

    And gosh... isn't that the part that partially collapsed once before? Naaaah.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of AshThePirate AshThePirate
    09/14/09

    @susitucker: Epic Fail agree. One good earthquake and the fate of that little eco-savvy bridge community would not be all green and pretty.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment AshThePirate was starred AshThePirate was unstarred
    Image of phoghat phoghat
    09/14/09

    @susitucker:
    Well, here's where we're going to make it work. Ya'll see in the book, the shacks and hovels were all cardboard so'd they be very light and all.
     Reply
    phoghat was starred phoghat was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    The Ponte Vecchio is awfully small. William Gibson could set barely a short story there.
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of yrag yrag
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    "The only problem I see is the whole reason the Bay Bridge is being rebuilt. The old bridge isn't earthquake safe."

    Being on the East Coast, I didn't know the reason for the 'makeover '.

    inaki(the-rest-of-the-story)zombie certainly introduces one gigantic caveat to what I initially thought was an exciting concept.
     Reply
    Grey_Area promoted this comment yrag was starred yrag was unstarred
    Image of Hamslicer Hamslicer
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Plumbing would be easy. Just a hole.
     Reply
    Hamslicer was starred Hamslicer was unstarred
    Image of ManchuCandidate ManchuCandidate
    09/14/09

    In reply to William Gibson's Bridge City in "Virtual Light" Could Become Real
    Why don't they call it "On the Dock Of the Bay"?
     Reply
    Edited by ManchuCandidate at 09/14/09 2:53 PM ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred
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