He is attacking the heart of the problem, the metropolitan area network that bridges the "last mile" between businesses and long-haul networks.

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The snaking metal network of bridges and walkways holds you safely as you peer into the gurgling whirlpools that skirt through the narrow and deep ravine below, while the adjacent cafe offers uninterrupted views of the mountains.

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You load the software on all the PCs on your network and Network Magic automatically creates a management layer that bridges the interoperability gaps between disparate network devices.

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This is a problem for railway bridges too, according to Network Rail, and it employs scuba divers among its maintenance crew in order to spot damage to bridges - not to mention abseilers - to deal with some of its seafront lines.

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As the bridges are part of the motorway and trunk road network, this would be the responsibility of the Welsh government.

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But events - even those with a comic element like the McKinley episode - continue to demonstrate what Senator Frank Lautenberg called the almost incomprehensible magnitude of trying to secure a US transport network which includes 3.9 million miles of roads, 600, 000 bridges, 361 ports and more than 5, 000 public-use airports.

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"It's just horrible, " says Ms. Restrepo, a marketer for Rusticae, a network of rural hotels, who every January studies the calendar with her husband to start planning jaunts around bridges.

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