Brent Spence Bridge Shutdown Correlation to MPA

Last fall I took PAD 681 Homeland Security Administration. This class focused on the different security threats our nation faces on a daily basis. Specifically, we looked at the types of terrorist attacks and natural disasters that could occur and how that would impact our infrastructure and daily living. The final project in the class was to develop an all-hazards preparedness, response and recovery plan for a major city. We had to choose three types of natural disasters that could happen in that region, and three types of terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure specific to that city. From here we would discuss the impact this event would have, how to prevent this event from happening, and how to mobilize and respond if the event did occur. 

In my final project, I was assigned the city of Cincinnati to create an all hazards plan for. One of my three critical infrastructure focuses was the Brent Spence Bridge. As we all know, the Brent Spence is vital to the transportation sector as it allows hundreds of thousands of people to commute to work, for travel and transport commerce. I hypothesized what would happen if the Brent Spence suddenly was no longer functioning because of some disaster or attack. I argued that the main risk the Brent Spence faced was a man made disaster, and now we are seeing that type of scenario come true. 

While unfortunate, it is interesting to see how my hypothetical scenarios and responses are stacking up compared to the real life example. This example is just one of the many great things about the NKU's MPA program. Our program is based on learning from current events, and how these lessons directly apply to our current and future career fields. The Brent Spence Bridge example is my personal example but there are many more. For example, in the nonprofit program students design and build a nonprofit organization in its entirety. One of the current nonprofit-track students that I have worked with, has utilized this exercise in the creation of her own nonprofit. It is reasons like this that make NKU's MPA program such a valuable and rewarding experience.