The railroad is generally considered to be a big reason this country grew as much as it has from coast to coast. You can thank all of those Chinese slaves for that.

Now the railroad can also be blamed for f—king with your plans this Friday night or Saturday morning, if said plans just happened to involve driving on Interstate 10 east of Tucson.

Demolition of an old and, apparently, too low-hanging Union Pacific Railroad bridge requires the closure of I-10 between State Route 83 and State Route 90 from 9 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. Because of the closure, motorists still on the road and heading toward that area during that time will be directed on a 67-mile (!!!!) detour down through Sonoita and Whetstone to get back onto I-10.

Hear those places are lovely during the witching hours at the start of an early March weekend.

This detour is supposedly old-hat for many long-haul truckers, who because of the lack of clearance caused by this old bridge routinely have to make this detour when traveling I-10. Another reason I've probably not pulled the trigger on that long-harbored dream of being an 18-wheeled road warrior.