One of Minnesota’s most famous and gifted citizens, Garrison Keillor, has written about the I-35W bridge collapse in his newspaper column, The Old Scout. As usual, our reigning politicians are on the receiving end of his barbed wit.

Here’s a brief excerpt. Keillor’s tongue is firmly in his cheek as he writes about his choice to travel down to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which requires crossing other “structurally deficient” bridges:

The day when we look to big government for solutions to our transportation problems is gone. Our governor has twice vetoed a 7.5-cent increase in the state gasoline tax to pay for road and bridge repair. He believes it is dumb. So it’s up to us to solve our own problems. Rochester is 88 miles away. Northwest Airlines offers seven flights daily for a round-trip fare of about 500 bucks, or slightly more than the fare to New York. You want to visit Rochester, pay your own freight. Don’t expect Minnesota to take care of you.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 10:34 am and is filed under Minnesota, Politics, Quotes.