Don't destroy Arlington BridgeHistoric structure can be converted to pedestrian/cycling corridor

By: Catherine Mitchell catherine.mitchell@freepress.mb.ca

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/dont-destroy-arlington-bri...

It was a good start to another season, even with the double wipeout, on the same day. Getting on the bike March 9 was a personal victory -- I'm not one of the ninja cyclists grinding the gears through the dead of winter. (Thick skin; stout heart. Not me.)

Construction season has also started early on Route 90 this year. They're working on sewer drains north of Silver Avenue, and there's more work to come this summer. I'm already hating the drive, hating the person behind my wheel. Cycling's good for the heart.

Which brings me to the Arlington Bridge: It's not on my work route, but it's on my mind. It's 103 years old, and they want to tear it down.

The city posted a public list of options, but it's clear the administration sees it coming down. It's crumbling, and a do-over is cheaper.

The deck is corroded. The trusses may be salvageable (they still have to be assessed) but if the bridge is to be widened, that's not possible. A wider bridge would require rebuilding the piers that are supported on timber piles more than a century old.

"If you're going to invest in another bridge for vehicles, you would have to rebuild the piers," says project manager Brad Neirinck.

All prohibitively expensive.

So, what they are mulling over (even amid talk of moving the CP rail yards; a generational project if ever it materializes) is whether to raise a new bridge over the CP rail yards at Arlington or move the crossing to another location, reviving the option of a bridge at McGregor.

I agree designing a vehicle bridge would see the existing span pulled down. But we should wait to see how the numbers line up before condemning Arlington outright. The city is expected to produce a report in the fall. Neirinck was skeptical the superstructure -- the lattice-like work of riveted steel beams that gives the span its profile -- could be saved.

But it should stay.

We've got to stop putting cars before people, and Arlington Street is a good place to do that.

This busy bus route is technically too narrow for the two lanes of traffic either way that happens every rush hour. A better option is to turn the curb lanes and sidewalks into pedestrian/cycling corridors.

The Arlington crossing can be part of the corridor, although its approach is steep. The bridge, closed to trucks and buses since 1972 because of deck deterioration, sees about 15,000 vehicles per day. That can be shunted, partially to a rebuilt McPhillips underpass, facing a re-do of its own because its clearance is too low.

A bridge at McGregor/Sherbrook would be the more natural conduit to residential expansion in Winnipeg's northwest because McGregor doesn't narrow to a glorified goat path the way Arlington does.

Turn Arlington Bridge into a pedestrian/cycling bridge. Illuminate the girding, tear off the sidewalk cages that imprison walkers, and turn the bridge into a venue for public events, as other cities in North America have done with decommissioned rail/vehicle crossings.

The cities of Newport, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio, did exactly that to preserve a gorgeous, trussed rail bridge opened in 1872 across the Ohio River. Closed to cars in 2001, it was painted purple, and for a short time people could walk up and over the five truss humps (purplepeoplebridge.com). At 2,670 feet, the crossing can be rented for wedding receptions, fundraisers and dinners.

New York's Walkway over the Hudson (walkway.org) was opened in 2009 after a mammoth rebuild to save a 127-year-old rail crossing abandoned after a fire in 1974. At more than two kilometres, it is the world's longest, elevated pedestrian bridge and has given life to a state historic park.

These are laudable conservation efforts that make the case saving Arlington is possible. In other cities, new pedestrian/cycling bridges are becoming architectural installations. Austin's Pfluger Bridge, on the Colorado River, is more a park than an overpass and has been credited with some of the best views of the cityscape and its sunsets.

Have you seen how a retiring sun can set rail yards and its cars shimmering?

It's Winnipeg's time to step into the 21st century, to defer to its growing cycling community. This is an opportunity to stitch together a historic divide.

City council's Build Canada wish list is an aggressive vote to move more steel on the roads faster. But there's got to be room in a city to slow it down. Divert it. Give residents a space on Arlington to connect by pulling together the North End, inner city and the south. The gritty, storied stretches of Logan and Dufferin there are loaded with potential for rebirth as a hub of human activity. Let's start talking about that.

Catherine Mitchell is a Free Press editorial board member.

catherine.mitchell@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @wfpcmitchell

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 1, 2015 A9