Thompson footbridge - have you given up?

[Lynn Bratley]

Hello friends of the river,

Some comments I've heard or read: "The new Thompson footbridge is beautiful - but so disappointing - it's not user friendly - I can't see the river - looks like it was designed for trucks not people - it's a ladder for kids to climb up - it was not designed in the same open and accessible design as the other footbridges and walkways around the Charles River - what happened and why wasn't the community included in approving the plans?" 

Have you given up on the possibility of advocating for changing it?  We are obviously stuck with the heavy steel structure. But I would like to see if there are changes that could be made that would open up the views and make it more open and user friendly and less dangerous - suggestions I've heard or read: replace the wood slats with something else, take out some of them, raise the floor of the bridge, put in benches along each side. 

I'd like to know your thoughts.

Thanks,

Lynn

Lynn Bratley

21 Church Lane, Watertown, MA 02472

617-959-5634

Boldly going nowhere...

[Susan Falkoff]

does anyone know how far jon hecht and will brownsberger have gotten in their efforts to work with dcr on this?

Susan

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[anne benaquist]

Thanks for keeping this going. I like the ideas of removing some slats and adding benches. Worksites sometimes have plexiglass windows. Maybe a large panel could be cut out here and there. 

Anne Benaquist 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Jbhawes]

The sad reality is the horizontal wood slats are all bolted in place to welded attachments on the structure allowing about 3" openings.  These could have been 4" by code. Possibly the slats could be sliced/narrowed allowing for the 4" openings.  However, that is a marginal improvement.  Ideally, narrow vertical metal bars would have been used which is the normal situation for railings.  I don't know if this was "aesthetics" at work or an attempt to save money.

Removing some slats would make the gaps too high (4" governs). Benches could have code/danger issues and raising the floor seems impractical.

Probably, the best fix would be the plexiglas panels mentioned below.  However, that is subject to vandals and normal wear and tear and could be unsightly before too long.

John Hawes

Sent from my iPad

[Libby Shaw]

Councilor Lisa Feltner mentioned that a similar sight-lines design oversight was caught and corrected in advance when the world-famous High Line Park was designed for an old railroad bridge in NYC.  That design snafu should be well-known in the pedestrian-bridge design world.  So it’s a bit of a shock that Watertown’s pedestrian bridge suffers this sight-lines problem.

Sure hope it’s not too late to implement a design correction that allows for a mostly continuous view of the river on both sides for shorter people and handicapped people as they cross Watertown’s otherwise wonderful pedestrian bridge.

Libby Shaw

Begin forwarded message:

[Lisa Feltner]

Hi Friends,

I don’t believe this input was forwarded yet to the Friends of the Watertown Riverfront googlegroup.  See below; please excuse if duplicate.
Happy Summer,

Lisa 

------Forwarded message------
From: Brownsberger, William (SEN) <William.Br...@masenate.gov>
Date: Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 8:24 PM
Subject: FW: [fotwr] Thompson footbridge - have you given up?
To: Lisa Feltner <lfel...@watertown-ma.gov>, ahb...@rcn.com <ahb...@rcn.com>
Cc: Bettinelli, Andrew (SEN) <Andrew.B...@masenate.gov>, Hecht, Jonathan - Rep. (HOU) <Jonatha...@mahouse.gov>, bratl...@verizon.net <bratl...@verizon.net>, cdic...@verizon.net <cdic...@verizon.net>, Falkoff, Susan <susanf...@gmail.com>, Driscoll, Dan (DCR) <dan.dr...@state.ma.us>

Hi Lisa/Anne,

Perhaps one of you could forward this to the fotwr group -- I'm not a member.  I just wanted to respond to this thread that was drawn to my attention.

Dan Driscoll, a senior DCR planner who manages bike paths and bridges all over the state, did come down to review the new Thompson Footbridge with Lynn Bratley, Chuck Dickinson, Susan Falkoff and myself.  Rep. Hecht wished to attend but was out of town.  That was on August 14.

Dan did strongly share the feeling that the railings were higher than desirable.  He indicated that he would have looked hard for alternatives if had understood how high they were going to be.  

However, he also explained a collection of structural constraints that made a heavy superstructure with its high metal top lines arguably the correct choice.  So he did not completely disown the approach chosen by his now retired colleague engineer.

He was opposed to adding benches or stepping boards or anything else that would actually narrow the clear cross-section of the bridge.  The width of the bridge is highly desirable given the volume of mixed pedestrian and bike traffic.  The bridge has gotten very positive reviews from many especially in the disabled community.

He was reluctant to compromise the high quality wood siding of the bridge by cutting holes in it.  It is the most durable wood in the world and very expensive (and attractive if you like wood).  

But he did promise to give further thought to the possibility of removing a few slats in the middle of the bridge and replacing them with cabling or other higher visibility barrier.  The question is whether we can do that in a way that is reasonable in cost but also still attractive.

Dan and his team are in the middle of a busy construction season moving forward on many projects.  I'm not sure when to expect a result from his further reflection.

I do feel that Lynn, Chuck and Susan effectively raised their concerns and identified options and that the concerns and the options were duly heard by Dan.

/w.

William N. Brownsberger
State Senator
Second Suffolk and Middlesex District
Room 504
State House
Boston, MA  02133
617-722-1280 (office)
617-771-8274 (cell)
Visit willbrownsberger.com for news.

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From: Bettinelli, Andrew (SEN)
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2018 9:33 AM
To: Brownsberger, William (SEN)
Subject: FW: [fotwr] Thompson footbridge - have you given up?