The Lowry Av. Bridge is closed to (most) pedestrians
Posted on June 26th, 2008 – 1:01 PMBy Roadguy
This morning, some folks from MN2020 held a news conference at the closed Lowry Avenue Bridge to release the results of a survey of the state’s county engineers, who are worried about funding for deteriorating roads. The full report is available here.
While the think-tankers were sharing their thoughts, Roadguy was quite surprised to see this:
Yes, these pedestrians went over the barricades to cross the bridge. (Click to enlarge to see whether it’s anyone you know.) I also took a picture of how they did it, but I’m keeping that to myself — we don’t want to give alert reader Bonnie, who misses walking her dog across the bridge, any ideas.
It’s not good to have pedestrians on an unsafe bridge, but do we really want to resort to razor wire and 24-hour guards? Share any thoughts or ideas below.
17 Responses to "The Lowry Av. Bridge is closed to (most) pedestrians"
Tear it down before it falls down on its own accord?
I think the current barricades are enough, people just have to realize that they are taking a risk by climbing over them, and that any injury or deaths that result are their fault and theirs alone.
“I think the current barricades are enough, people just have to realize that they are taking a risk by climbing over them, and that any injury or deaths that result are their fault and theirs alone.”
You would think so, Josh R. But, hypothetically, if that did happen, and somebody got hurt/killed, their family would sue. And, I’ll bet, since no one is responsible for their actions any more, they’d win in court and get paid!
It’s amazing how many people think the barricades apply to everyone but them.
Years ago I was working on a paving job and a woman drove around the barricades while we were spraying the tack coat. Then she threatened to sue us for getting fresh asphalt all over her car. What did she think the barricades were for? Duh!
If that bridge isn’t strong enough to support pedestrians, better take it down today.
Closed bridges, barricades, red lights, whatever. Who cares? Those things don’t apply to ME. It’s not like there are any consequences.
Just think if everyone had this mentality. Well, maybe “mentality” is a poor chopie of words, because I don’t think there is much, if any, brain activity in these people.
Looks like they’re getting a good laugh at your picture taking. I’m sure these ladies use this route every day, probably at the same approximate time, so maybe an anonymous tip to the police is in order.
that’s poor “choice” of words.
Speaking of rules not applying, did the law about bicycles not having to stop pass? I was NB on Bryant Ave. south of lake St. a little before 7 this morning, and there was a parade of bikes treating the stop signs like green lights.
They were also way out into the traffic lane causing me to have to go into the oncoming traffic lane to get around them.
Isn’t there something about not impeding regular traffic flow, and following traffic laws in the bike statutes? I’ll answer my own question: there is. But who can be bothered by petty things like others’ rights and pesky laws when you’re busy single-handedly saving the planet?
Let’s get this straight: The bridge was fine, until the 35W bridge collapsed.
Then, when it was inspected, it was deficient.
If that bridge can’t tolerate pedestrians / cyclists then it’s in really horrible shape (the opinion of this engineer - not a civil engineer). And it should have been closed years ago!
You think people taking their lives into their own hands crossing an unsafe bridge is bad, imagine what kind of lawsuits would be facing the St. Paul school district if something had happened while school buses were crossing the Wheelock Parkway bridge (as reported by KSTP back in March). Thankfully, the police did get involved in this case, as noted in the article.
If a person goes around or over a barricade and gets injured, they should lose any right for legal action. Lawsuit for peoples own stupidity are the most ridiculous thing.
Maybe they should take some of those unused, expensive photo-cop cameras and put them on the Lowry Avenue Bridge. Then they could ticket those abusers! No question about who’s “driving”. 
Oh and Morg, I think the one on the left is a guy.
Morg, if it makes you feel better, I am a serious almost year round cyclist and when I see groups of bikes flying thru red lights and stop signs I am embarrassed.
But when I see an Escalade flooring it through the red, I see red! I think everyone shares the guilt.
“Isn’t there something about not impeding regular traffic flow, and following traffic laws in the bike statutes? I’ll answer my own question: there is. But who can be bothered by petty things like others’ rights and pesky laws when you’re busy single-handedly saving the planet?”
Yes bikes need to stop at stop lights and signs, but they only need to ride as far to the right as is safe based on road conditions. Impeding traffic comes into play if they have the safe ability to ride further to the right and are not doing so.
In my commute there are a couple blocks where the far right is all chewed up and full of potholes so I need to ride further into the lane so I don’t crash until I pass them.
As a side note, I was coming to a stop at a stop sign Tuesday while out riding and a car rolled through the same stop sign at maybe 10 mph. huh? I thought only bikes broke the law.
Of course we could trade stories all day with car drivers “proving” that bikers are the worst and bikers “proving” that car drivers are the worst, but it really comes down to people are the worst and a lot of people will break laws whenever they think they can get away with it.
The Lowry bridge (unlike the 35W bridge) was already slated for replacement, and was only closed after one of the support piers began to shift. While it is obviously currently capable of holding pedestrians, there’s also no telling when or if the pier will shift more, possibly taking the bridge into the river. Such a collapse would have little if anything to do with the weight on the bridge, so the City/County is just trying to protect itself, and the public that uses it.
Shhhh Joe, you disagreeing with DGB’s conspiracy world view. We can’t let something silly like facts get in the way of DGB’s paranoia!
Chris - your last paragraph about “proving” who is worse - very well said.
I totally agree. As a biker and a driver, I see both cars and bikes breaking laws.
And I’ve rolled through stop signs with my bike and my car…
Wait a second, there were cars driving over this bridge two months ago and now it’s not safe enough for two gals?
The collective weight of these two at best dosen’t exceed 300 punds or 1/10th the weight of one car!
