Skip to main content

The Little Bridge That Couldn’t


  
The pedestrian bridge which arched over Little Patuxent Parkway is gone. One of the chief reasons given for its removal was safety. The bridge was just in terrible shape.  It is being remembered and lamented by some. Its demolition has prompted at least one “Rouse in his grave” comment on social media.

For those who have legitimately fond memories of this pedestrian bridge, I offer my sympathies. As for me: I just don’t get it. 

In all the time I have lived here I have never seen anyone on that bridge. (That doesn’t mean people didn’t use it, of course. I’m simply reporting my personal experience.) Nor have I ever had any reason to use the bridge. 

It didn’t go anywhere I wanted to go. It didn’t connect places that I needed to be. 

Overhead pedestrian walkways were all the rage when this one was built for the New American City. A bunch of them were built as a part of the Baltimore Harbor Place project, possibly by the Rouse Company. Many, if not all, have since been demolished. 

Some thoughts on that: Pedestrian Bridges Make Cities Less Walkable, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

To my mind this particular walkway made no sense. It was intended to support an active, interconnected pedestrian lifestyle, yet what it connected was largely a sea of parking lots on either side of LPP. No amount of aspirational goodwill could overcome the inherent worship of the automobile lifestyle that is baked in to this place.

Rouse rather famously said that “cities can be fun!” but there just wasn’t anything fun (or functional) about this bridge. Perhaps there was a time when there was. I certainly can’t judge what I haven’t seen. It has hung over Little Patuxent Parkway like a monument to Columbia nostalgia for as long as I can remember. 

The most vivid memory I have of that place is one associated with loss of life.  It was hard for me to think of it any other way. I didn’t have nostalgic feelings for that place. If anything, I felt sadness.

Can you think of any place locally where a bridge like that would make sense? Have you ever been on foot, doing fun and interesting things, and thought: what we really need here is an overhead pedestrian walkway? Where would you put one?

Let me know.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Columbia Chance Connection

  Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!”  We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...
Post a Comment
Read more