The signs have finally gone up, and the construction barrels have been placed. The very real Roosevelt Bridge, that spans between DC and Arlington across the Potomac, is where our heroes, Foggy and Smithson live. It is also a bridge that I drive every day. The issue of maintaining infrastructure in the US is a serious one (recent bridge collapses in Baltimore and Pittsburgh are top of mind) and I, in fact, chose the Roosevelt bridge partly because it was crumbling…you know, for comedic value. Well, efforts in the Biden administration (remember “build back better”?) have now started to move forward. So, its a mixed blessing for GONOGO. On the one hand a dilapidated bridge adds to the world-building of the GONOGO multiverse, on the other hand, not having the bridge collapse is probably for the best in the real world. I suppose this is a problem that only a few other cartoonists have, that is, having the strip set in the real world. Bloom County was fictional, The Otterloops lived “just outside the beltway” and the Simpsons live in Springfield…I suppose that one of the inspirations for this comic, POGO, was set in the Okefenokee swamp, which is a real place….but it is also not in very much danger of having much infrastructure to speak of, let alone to maintain…
