Overnight on the Chicago El

[PaTrainFan]

There appear to be none in Pittsburgh though it's deservedly known as a city of bridges.

This is very true!

 

[NorthShore]

Does not Chicago have more bascule bridges than amy other city in the world?

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Mystic, CT, has only one bascule bridge, but it’s one of the main tourist attractions. You’d think it was the only one in existence, the way they get so excited about it.

Watching the boats line up, the bridge go up, then the boats go through and the bridge come down is either interesting and even somewhat relaxing (if you’re not doing anything else) or slightly annoying (if you just that minute decided to get ice cream, and your favorite ice cream place is on the other side of the bridge).

On a more serious note, I agree that type of bridge doesn’t seem very helpful for wheelchair users. I was using a cane the last time I was there, and even with just a cane, I had trouble walking across the bridge.

 

[NorthShore]

On a more serious note, I agree that type of bridge doesn’t seem very helpful for wheelchair users. I was using a cane the last time I was there, and even with just a cane, I had trouble walking across the bridge.

I'm curious, and would like to understand better, what the particular challenge is.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I'm curious, and would like to understand better, what the particular challenge is.

I don’t know if it’s typical of all bridges of this type, but the one in Mystic is narrow, so with people walking in both directions, I constantly found myself trying to avoid running into someone. It also shakes a bit as you’re going over it. But I’ve been over many bridges that are narrow and shake, so those aren’t characteristics specific to this type.

Also, just before you go onto the main bridge part, there’s a metal plate in the sidewalk —not sure if that’s related to the bridge or something else.

For me, it was a minor annoyance, and I just had to remember to pay attention so I didn’t trip over something or hit somebody with the cane by mistake.

There was a man in front of me early one morning, and he had worse mobility issues than I did and managed just fine, so I imagine if you lived there and were used to it, you might adjust.

I did not see anyone in a wheelchair going across when I was there, but it did occur to me to wonder how difficult it would be for them.

I found that people for the most part were kind and moved over for each other.

So now that I’ve read through my reply here, I think the difficulties I was thinking of probably apply to pedestrian bridges of all types, not just this type.