Cambridge Pedestrian Bridge

[jamincan]

Make it look like a giant monocle. :-P

[Canard]

Here's the current state of the bridge.

   

   

[DHLawrence]

Coming along nicely!

[Canard]

The more I think about the location of this bridge, the more I scratch my head.

   

The three red lines I've drawn in the lower section of this map represent existing bridges.

The two blue lines, at the top and the bottom, represent the under-reconstruction Fountain St. Bridge, and the new Pedestrian bridge.

The two orange lines, a and b, show two areas I think a pedestrian bridge would be more helpful.  The location where the new one is going now is so close to 97 that it seems like a bit of a waste.  If we were going to spend all that money to build a bridge, wouldn't it be better to be in a location where there aren't any bridges?

I think about this mainly because my commute by bicycle from the Northeast end of Cambridge, to central Kitchener, looks something like this (to avoid Fountain/King/Shantz Hill at rush-hour):

   

I have to go waaaay South, because there's no bridge between Fountain St. and Park Hill Road.

Although, looking at the map this way, I realize there are a ton of environmental concerns and huge engineering challenges with the terrain all along there. So I'm probably just rambling...

[darts]

It is a dumb place for a bridge since to get from one side to the other side is 5 minutes walking.

A much better place would be adding onto the railway bridge to allow students cross the river to go to GCI, currently most students cross on the railway bridge

[clasher]

Aside from the couple small places in Blair and the Rare reserve, there isn't a whole lot of anything on the west side of the river between Galt and Kitchener. There's a stone pier in the river near your "b" line on the map so maybe one day that could be used for another pedestrian bridge but it's pretty close to Fountain street I think they'd be better off just improving the short section of trail that runs along the river, it's been washed out a bunch this year. I also think the GRCA would be loath to allow any kind of development on this stretch of the river.

I can understand building the bridge in downtown Galt, it looks like it'll be really close to the Southworks property so hopefully a lot more people in the future use it to walk to all the businesses on the other side of the river.

[plam]

The first time I read it I thought there was more discussion of the pedestrian bridge, but there's just one sentence about it improving Cambridge's walkability. But there are a bunch of Matt Smith photos here!

https://communityedition.ca/if-streets-could-talk-galt/

[KevinL]

Well, this one needed nearly zero structural work - the flood embankments combined with the existing old pillar meant they pretty much just needed to fabricate the decks. And, this one is located right next to the densest part of the city to connect it to an emerging new centre and improve the core's walkability. I can't blame them for going ahead.

[Canard]

A much better place would be adding onto the railway bridge to allow students cross the river to go to GCI, currently most students cross on the railway bridge

That is absolutely horrifying. Have you seen this happening first-hand?

[Coke6pk]

A much better place would be adding onto the railway bridge to allow students cross the river to go to GCI, currently most students cross on the railway bridge

That is absolutely horrifying. Have you seen this happening first-hand?

Was this written as sarcasm, or are you truly unaware of how popular this river crossing is?

I remember it was fairly common for the CP Police to set up on George St and write paper as the kids came across.  It never discouraged them.... 

Coke

[Canard]

I am truly unaware. How could I be aware? I don't live in the area...

I only drive by once or twice a month if we happen to have errands in the area, and I glance up at 60 km/h for 0.3 seconds and say "Oh cute, a train bridge!", or, when I bike by a couple of times a week, at 25-30 km/h, and say "Oh cute, a train bridge!". If someone is crossing it is entirely possible I have never seen it because the crossing doesn't line up with when I am there!

If that is happening even once per day, the police and railway people absolutely need to get on that! Someone will get killed.

[Coke6pk]

I am truly unaware.  How could I be aware?  I don't live in the area...

I only drive by once or twice a month if we happen to have errands in the area, and I glance up at 60 km/h for 0.3 seconds and say "Oh cute, a train bridge!", or, when I bike by a couple of times a week, at 25-30 km/h, and say "Oh cute, a train bridge!".  If someone is crossing it is entirely possible I have never seen it because the crossing doesn't line up with when I am there!

If that is happening even once per day, the police and railway people absolutely need to get on that!  Someone will get killed.

With electronic messaging, its hard to read the context sometimes. 

I would hazard a guess it happens multiple times a day, by multiple people.  CP Police are very much aware of the issue, and the railway fences it off, and the kids cut a hole in the fence the next day.  As are all teenagers, they are invincible and think nothing of the shortcut to shave 20 min off the walk home.

Coke

[GtwoK]

The more I think about the location of this bridge, the more I scratch my head.



The three red lines I've drawn in the lower section of this map represent existing bridges.

The two blue lines, at the top and the bottom, represent the under-reconstruction Fountain St. Bridge, and the new Pedestrian bridge.

The two orange lines, a and b, show two areas I think a pedestrian bridge would be more helpful.  The location where the new one is going now is so close to 97 that it seems like a bit of a waste.  If we were going to spend all that money to build a bridge, wouldn't it be better to be in a location where there aren't any bridges?

I think about this mainly because my commute by bicycle from the Northeast end of Cambridge, to central Kitchener, looks something like this (to avoid Fountain/King/Shantz Hill at rush-hour):



I have to go waaaay South, because there's no bridge between Fountain St. and Park Hill Road.

Although, looking at the map this way, I realize there are a ton of environmental concerns and huge engineering challenges with the terrain all along there.  So I'm probably just rambling...

If you don't mind me asking, why not this route? Seems much shorter. Even more so if that rumored ped/cycling bridge (in purple) gets built.



Speaking of which, whatever happened to that? did it go anywhere? Was it dropped?

[Markster]

If you don't mind me asking, why not this route? Seems much shorter. Even more so if that rumored ped/cycling bridge (in purple) gets built.

Because of this:

I think about this mainly because my commute by bicycle from the Northeast end of Cambridge, to central Kitchener, looks something like this (to avoid Fountain/King/Shantz Hill at rush-hour):

[GtwoK]

If you don't mind me asking, why not this route? Seems much shorter. Even more so if that rumored ped/cycling bridge (in purple) gets built.

Because of this:

I think about this mainly because my commute by bicycle from the Northeast end of Cambridge, to central Kitchener, looks something like this (to avoid Fountain/King/Shantz Hill at rush-hour):

M reading comprehension is at an all-time low!

Well, if the aforementioned pedestrian bridge between Eagle and Fountain gets built, that'll be a way of avoiding it!