Yesterday, the Plymouth Avenue bridge in Minneapolis reopened for cyclists and pedestrians only.
As I expected when I wrote about this bridge and its corroded cables in October, the reopening for cyclists does have some plowing dependencies. While Minneapolis is on its ‘new’ plowing budget for 2011 after completely blowing the budget for 2010 with all the November snow emergencies, running plows over the bridge is not a budgetary or safety priority. (Hey, plows are heavy.) As a result, cyclists are being asked to walk their bikes over the bridge via the sidewalk. The shoveled walkway is not wide enough to support simultaneous cyclists and walker use.
As I also would suspect, pedestrians and cyclists were using the bridge anyway, despite signage.
This situation is expected to be extended, although come spring the snow/walk restrictions will obviously be a non-point. Minneapolis hopes to get help to fund the bridge repair, which includes both replacing the corroded cables and relocating the drainage pipes contributing to the corrosion. If funding is procured, repair would take place “late next year,” whatever that means.
