Time is Ripe to Ponder the Beauty of Mehaffey Bridge

In this time of turmoil, let’s take a pandemic break to wax poetic about Mehaffey Bridge.Roll down the curving hill eastward toward Solon into the Iowa River Valley on a sunny spring day and you see this 565-foot expanse of gleaming white concrete bisecting the blue waters of Coralville Lake.

Three bald eagles perched over Coralville Lake keep a sharp eye on Mehaffey Bridge in this exceptional photo by Randy Miller of North Liberty, who specializes in drone photography. The bridge design is similar to that of a suspension bridge, but with the supporting cables encased in concrete.

You know right away this bridge design is something special.Could those be what might symbolize four huge Native American teepees pointing skyward above the bridge deck?That would be fitting, since research tells me pioneers forded the river at this spot in the late 1800s, and possibly members of the Sauk and Fox tribes before them.Those tribes were said to live in more dome-style structures than the portable teepees of their nomadic Lakota Sioux cousins, but you can still imagine an indigenous connection.