Great reporting Stony.

I owe this idea to Shadow!


MORE BRIDGES in Bradford! .......... Just what we need! Yet one more perch to launch shopping carts, stolen bicycles, and dirty baby diapers from ... into the Tuna!

The new bridge design looks to have a wider section in the middle so those throwing bicycles, and carts off, will have ample room to swing them a bit first! Or they can get a "running start" before they launch them!

I wonder if those designing this bridge even considered the "scummer uses" of the bridge before hand?

I'm pretty sure they do have to pay those taxes on work done outside of their own villages. How are they taking jobs from those already established? Haven't the Amish been around this area long before any of the local construction companies were founded? No overhead? Don't they pay the employees? If not why do they work for that company?

I'm not sure if I understand the end of your post but are you saying that I'm the mayor?

More photos of the dangerous bridge on Barbour Street.


The exposed rebar can catch a person or kids foot



Besides the sloped loose concrete being a hazard



A very heavy, rusty light pole held up with bolts anchored in crumbling concrete


We are not on Elm Street ...... so old, rusty, ugly poles are good enough to hold a street sign up!

A great example of the contrast and disconnect between the majority of the citys infrastructure and "other projects" - Effective immediately- Weight Limit Reduced on Elm Street Bridge



The weight limit on the Elm Street bridge will be reduced to 3 tons based on the most recent bridge inspection. Funding for this bridge on one of Bradfords busier streets is not on anyones list, and it most likely will be closed before it is replaced.

For everyone’s safety, the City of Bradford is asking that all motorists comply with these new weight restrictions which are effective immediately.

Violators may be cited. and on almost the same day.... Work on the Pine Street pedestrian bridge has begun. Rebuilding the bridge, which has been gone for more than a decade, is expected to take about three months.

So this is Bradford in a nutshell (heavy on the NUT!) .......

We as spending over THREE HUNDRED GRAND on a pedestrian foot bridge wedged between two perfectly good bridges with pedestrian sidewalks on them, a half block apart ........... meanwhile .... one of our busiest bridges in the city is crumbling beneith our wheeles! And there are apparantly no plans or funding to repair it?

Way to go grant writers and city planners!

I was told this foot bridge was all part of a plan for turning Pine street into a pedestian walk-way. Nice idea. Wish it well.
I was also told there would be a pagoda in the middle of the bridge for scummers to loiter in. Benches and everything.
Sounds good if they install a trap door and trip it open when the scummers hang out too long.

A 2012 Ford F150 with a 36 gallon tank full of gas, an 8 foot bed, regular cab, 2 (two) 180 lb. adults weighs 5708 lbs. Fill it with oil, coolant, transmission fluid, you're at the 3 ton limit. Put a plow on it and you're over. That's how safe this bridge is. A F250 is well over the limit. What is going to happen this winter when there is snow and ice built up on the sidewalk and 2 or 3 trucks are on the bridge at the same time? What's going to happen when the plow truck loaded with 2 tons of salt and sand whose gross weight is around 10,000 lbs goes over it?

If JeffT has his numbers right, then even our lightest fire truck wont be able to cross it. What are the safety implications for fifth ward residents if this bridge sits closed like the Kennedy street bridge did? How long was that before we got funding? 7-8-10 years? I am pretty sure the Davis street bridge is on borrowed time as well, is it on any lists to be replaced? How about Forman street? it gets steady traffic all day every day, and it usually has the biggest trucks sitting idle on it when traffic backs up? I think we need to take a hard look at our priorities.

JeffT has his figures correct. My Dodge 2500 would be illegal. So would most City municipal trucks, ATA buses, school buses, garbage trucks, CIty ambulance, probably UPS, things like that.
Possibly, some enterprising person who is out of work in Bradford, could make a deal with the City to get a percentage of the fines that would be levied for offenders if they sat near the bridge and photographed overweight vehicles, including the license, on the bridge and submitted them. I'll bet the numbers would be surprising.

Good news/bad news, The good news is that Bob Cummins saved us taxpayers $35000.00 on the cost of this foot bridge. (you would think with beams already in place, that you could build a pretty nice footbridge with that amount alone..) The bad news, it is still going to cost us $240,000.00. The good news, The savings is going to be spent in the Second ward on Elm street! The bad news, They are spending it on curbs and landscaping, and not the dilapidated bridge, or the horrible pavement.

The amount saved was 17,000, not 35,000.