Trail Bridge

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Some of you may remember this bridge from photos I circulated last year. It is located along the Cuyahoga Valley Towpath Trail outside Cleveland, OH, where I have biked many times with my now 88 year old father-in-law. We rode this section of the trail several years ago and took our lives in our hands crossing two very busy and dangerous intersections now spanned by two of these bridges. To see them appear on the horizon is a real thrill, but to bike over them is even a bigger thrill. We encountered a young woman headed up the incline on rollerblades and she was having a ball. Can you visualize this style bridge crossing Northwest Drive or spanning the railyard just north of Plainville Municipal Center? I can and it gets my juices flowing. One of the interesting details not visible here is that there are signs before entering the bridge deck to indicate access to services along the roads leading to the intersection, or an alternate route for someone in a wheelchair who doesn't want to deal with the incline. Someone really thought this through. Local news reports that there was some resistance to such a beautiful bridge on the grounds that it was too expensive, but as a cyclist, it said to me as I used it, that "cyclists matter" and so does creation of something more than a cookie cutter, off-the-shelf version.
Happy trails.
Jim Cassidy

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Anonymous said…
This is great info to know.
November 10, 2008 at 7:39 PM
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