Highlights from 2011

I spent an hour or two looking back on posts from the past year to see what the highlights were from 2011, what items might be of future interest to people. Other people might make some other choices, but most of the things I thought were interesting and important involved construction.

The beginning of the year featured a number of posts about the new Amtrak platform. (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)  In April the platform was dedicated with an official ribbon cutting.

There was construction and renovation at the hospital all year long, but I did not write much about it. Most of the outside work was done in 2010 and the work inside was hard to see for someone who does not work at the hospital. Posts include those here, here, and here.

Less important, but something I kept reporting, was the slow progress on the Talbert Bridge, which has an official name that I cannot remember. The main span was hoisted into place over the river in late 2010, and then it seemed like it took forever for the finishing touches to be applied. The bridge was open to traffic in late summer, and was officially dedicated in November. Some posts are here, here, here, here, and here.

More important was the construction of the new elementary school on North Melville. After groundbreaking, progress was very slow because of wet weather and a strike, and it was not until the fall that the building began to take shape. I found this frustrating to watch because a lot was happening but I could not get close enough to really see what the workers were doing. Some of the posts are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Not nearly as important, but fun to photograph, were several renovation projects at Saint Joseph's College. See, for example, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The city was busy with several projects this year. I enjoyed watching the work at the sewage lift station, though I never did get inside to get some pictures. See here and here. Another was work on the electrical systems. I did not know it at the time, but I started watching that early with some demolition (see here, here, and here.) After a few minor posts, I was lucky to watch the arrival of our largest utility pole.

One of my better posts this year was on the new offices of the Surveyor and Purdue Extension. Within a few weeks that area was in the news as a series of tiny tornadoes set down in our area in several different storms. I took the time to try to trace the paths of several. See here, here, here, and here.

Rensselaer had municipal elections. I started strong, but did not follow up well.

I had a few favorite posts. A reader tipped me off to the repair of the court house flag pole. I did not do much reporting on businesses, but my visit to Stunt Dawg was enjoyable and educational.

My weirdest adventure this year was not in Rensselaer but on the way back to Rensselaer: my day as a misconnect.

Here is hoping that lots of good things await us in 2012.