Pedestrian bridge talk should shift its focus

The continuing conversation about the possibility of having a pedestrian bridge built over Route 113 to connect the main portion of town with its east side has been doing exactly that for quite a while — continuing and continuing.

As a symbolic connection of black and white Berlin, divided as they have been for generations by 140 feet or so of blacktop, grass and guardrails and vastly different cultural and social experiences, the bridge would serve that purpose exceptionally well.

But from a practical standpoint? Probably not.

For one thing, the question has to be asked how much foot traffic would this bridge actually see? And at what cost? In addition, as Councilman Dean Burrell pointed out, people disinclined or unable to walk to and over the bridge are likely to opt for convenience over safety and cross at street level.

And while crossing the highway via a bridge overhead is safer than a ground-level crossing, using a bridge will require pedestrians to walk a much greater distance. How much greater is an engineering question that will depend on the structure’s elevation, the slope of the bridge sections leading to the center and whether the bridge must be ADA compliant, so individuals such as Councilman Burrell can use it.

The bridge might not need to be ADA compliant if disabled individuals have other means to cross the highway, which, of course, they do and which may be made much safer at considerably less expense.

The situation might be different if government — that’s local, state and federal — was so flush with money that it didn’t have to differentiate between essential projects and desirable ones, but that is not the case now and it’s difficult to predict when that situation might change.

Right now, solving the Route 113 pedestrian safety problems requires shifting the focus of these continuing discussions to what can be done to provide the most people with the most convenient, most accessible and most practical solution.