Walking the pedestrian overpass

Apr 15, 2020, 11:26 AM

Wichita lockdown sound by Hugo Zelada-Romero

"I live in Wichita, KS. Recently KS was in the news, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly sued to stop Republican lawmakers from overturning her executive order limiting church gatherings and a general stay at home order. She won as it was determined that the lawmakers did not have authority to overturn her order. 

"This field recording was made while walking over the pedestrian bridge at Hillside and Kellogg. The duration of the sound is the time it took to walk up the spiral walkway, across the bridge and then down the other side. It is the sound of traffic during rush hour, and it seems to not have changed much although there are many people working from home. 

"The people who are still on this highway during rush hours are mostly working class folk whose manufacturing jobs are still in place, additionally I imagine that those are on the highway are essential workers. This is in contrast to other images of bigger cities such as L.A. where there are stricter shelter in place orders. 

"People in KS do not seem to take social distance seriously, as some businesses are still open and there is a surge of people visiting parks during good weather."

Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds