Chatter around Gadfly’s water-cooler about: a pedestrian bridge

Budget, Pedestrian bridge, Serious Issues, Walkability and Bikeability 1 Minute

logo 10th in a series of posts on the 2020 Budget logo

Makes you think about priorities here in the budget season!

So $100,000 for a bridge that is not needed and connects nothing to nothing?

  • Drugs – not enough police

 

  • Sidewalks – residential problem

 

  • Walkability –  you have to drive to the bridge because you cannot walk there

 

  • No money for home improvements

 

  • No money for trees

But we might have a bridge!

Gadfly thought you ethicists might need a change of pace!

Published by The Bethlehem Gadfly

Edward J. Gallagher, Bethlehem immigrant, retired, nearly 50 years as Professor of American Literature at Lehigh University, known as "Dr. G" and "Conan the Grammarian" to students, whose virtual world avatar "EdwardScholarhands" stares at you here, has reinvented himself as the Bethlehem Gadfly.

Published

3 thoughts on “Chatter around Gadfly’s water-cooler about: a pedestrian bridge”

  1. If the pedestrian bridge is built under the Fahy bridge, it could connect the south side with the north side park and trails.

  2. ‘Drugs – not enough police’ — More police is rarely, if ever, the solution to drug use problems.

    Sidewalks – residential problem — It’s true that this is a responsibility of the property owners, but the City rarely if ever enforces them to comply with the ordinance. Due to obstructions and sudden changes in level, many sidewalks require the pedestrians’ continual attention to walk safely, a real minus for the oft-claimed ‘walkability’ in Bethlehem.

    Walkability – you have to drive to the bridge because you cannot walk there — An attempt at humor?

    No money for home improvements | trees— Are you talking about the City budget?

    IMO, the bridge should connect to the Greenway on the SS, and to both Sand Island and the City Hall level on the north side. It should have a usable space mid-river

  3. I don’t have an opinion on the pedestrian bridge yet, but I agree with Mr. Crownfield that it would connect a lot of usable walkable trails and places. And I, too, am puzzled by the “you cannot walk there” comment: people in my neighborhood and in other places on the south and north sides walk all over the place, including across the noisy, exhaust filled exisiting bridges to get to the other side of the river. And bike riders try to cross those major bridges, too, but only on the sidewalks if they value their lives. Seems like a car free bridge might help a lot of people be more active and would encourage all of us to walk or bike around town instead of driving. That would be good for everyone who is not disabled! So maybe I do have an opinion on the pedestrian bridge after all…

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