Community Corner
Walking/Biking Part of Red Gate Bridge Is Now Open
Bicyclists, joggers and pedestrians take to the new crossing beneath the Red Gate Bridge's north end.
There was no formal ribbon-cutting Friday, no coffee or pastries, no string of public officials, each taking a turn to sing the praises of this latest monument to mankind’s ingenuity.
Instead, beneath the canopy of a bright blue sky on a pleasant, sunny day, birds greeted the periodic walker, the occasional jogger and a trickle of cyclists making their ways for the first time over the pedestrian/bicycle crossing of the Red Gate Bridge.
“A nice job they did on this, huh?” a cyclist asked as he pedaled past a guy shooting video of the bridge. It was similar to the remarks of joggers, cyclists and walkers early Friday afternoon, the first day the pedestrian/cycling crossing had been open for use.
Red Gate Bridge, built at a cost of $30 million, opened to vehicle traffic during a mid-December ribbon-cutting ceremony. The pedestrian/cyclist crossing’ ribbon-cutting had been scheduled in early May, but the heavy rains and resulting Fox River flooding in April delayed completion of the project. The ribbon-cutting is now scheduled for June 15, 2013.
