Flora Footbridge To Be Open This Winter

Clearing staircases of snow poses a couple of problems.

First and foremost, it means that someone has to get out of the truck and grab a shovel. This represents an actual physical workload. The union grievance machine will be at full throttle. In fairness, putting aside the endless arguments about whose turn it is to get out of the warm truck cab, it can be dangerous. Slip on one of the top steps and the individual can suffer a nasty injury.

Second, from a snow storage perspective, where are you moving the snow to? The Flora Footbridge does not pose that significant an issue, as there are not too many steps, there are ample “dumping” zones to the sides of the staircase (as I recall them) that are not in the way of pedestrians and the odd (pun intended) cyclist. As well, the sides of the staircase are protected by rails (again, as I recall them), so the lift and toss is not onerous. Contrast this situation with the staircase at the eastern end of the Laurier Avenue bridge. A long staircase, with the primary dumping zones being the path along the side of the canal and or the sidewalk along the side of Colonel By.

WWFS*

It’s fascinating that this would even be an issue. When the footbridge was initially proposed, it was touted as a way for people on either end to easily get back and forth between the communities without having to hike or bike all the way around by bridges at Bank or Pretoria. I don’t recall anything in the materials about those being fair-weather conveniences. If anything, the shortcut is needed more in winter than the rest of the year.

Maybe somebody should fill the people at the City in on the season we have each year without fail that we call “Winter”. It brings with it cold and snow and ice as well as some wicked winds and tends to have an affect on most surfaces including those we walk on. They didn’t know about winter when they were building the LRT and now it turns out that they appear to be generally unaware of it.

It boggles the mind that the City would go to the expense of building bridges to connect communities and not include the necessary funding to maintain them year-round. Is this also the case with the Corkstown Bridge and the one between Donald St. and Strathcona Park/Somerset St.? Is this an issue with the design of the bridge or just that it is not planned maintenance?

*What Would Flora Say?