Comments on: Redesign of Wichita’s decaying Broadway bridge up for vote

By: Ksjeff

Ksjeff — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:44:58 +0000

This would seem like an excellent candidate for federal stimulus dollars. I am sure that the City is already looking into this, as it is the obvious way to pay for it.

In the meantime, perhaps a little spackling compound on the bottom might help.

By: oldgoat

oldgoat — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:08:27 +0000

It has been almost 2 years and the only thing done is a patch job. The only reason it will be fixed is because Broadway carries so much traffic. Otherwise they would do the minimum that they can. Just notice that the south end gets no relief on their flooding problems. I agree that bike lanes would be nice, but it doesn’t make sense to just put bike lanes on just the bridge to me. Kind of hate to say it, but riding a bike on a major street is a accident waiting to happen anyway. To me the benefit of riding would be far outweighed by the loss of being put in the hospital.

By: antymaster

antymaster — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:37:52 +0000

I too would LOVE to see bike lanes added to all major roads, at the very least. I understand, though, that doing so would require lots of $$.

By: knkoenig

knkoenig — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:41:54 +0000

Yup, krisapin, riding a bike is scary in this town. I’ve visited other towns that built in bicycle/turning lanes, but that does take a wider street (more $$) and concern for those of us using our own energy.

By: krisapin

krisapin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:25:59 +0000

It’s about time they do something with that bridge. I live just north of it & work south of it. I ride my bike to work everyday and I keep wondering when it will collapse out from underneath me. Hopefully when they rebuild it, they’ll add bike lanes to it. the only thing I can think of that’s scarier than the bridge itself is some of the psychotic drivers that nearly run me of it.

By: JimJohnson

JimJohnson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:52:23 +0000

What happened to all that Obama money?

You know, didn't Obama sign-off on BILLIONS for Infrastructure in the US?

By: KsKitty

KsKitty — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:17:27 +0000

Loner34…in case you did not know, Broadway is a MAJOR thoroughfare in that part of the city. When the bridge was previously closed, it caused a lot of problems and big detours for many people. So yes, this bridge is a necessity. If the bridge is NOT to be rebuilt, there will have to be a LOT of road construction to bring a surface road to that area to replace it. Either way…tons of $$, in a poor neighborhood. Wichita is famous for ignoring these areas.

By: Brent Wistrom

Brent Wistrom — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:14:26 +0000

RE: loner34 — Interesting point. I don’t have a solid answer, but I’ll ask when I get a chance. I suspect that traffic flows on Broadway justify a new bridge of some type. It carries about 14,000 vehicles per day. I’m not sure what, if any, problems the city had channeling that traffic to MacArthur. Although the city put in some no left turn signs and increased police patrols to keep people from cutting through a nearby neighborhood, which includes Enterprise Elementary School.

Public Works Director Chris Carrier said engineers will look at several options. One would be having the train go through a tunnel, which would let the city put in a shorter, cheaper bridge (but it would require cooperation from the railroad companies). The current bridge is about 800 feet because the tracks run at an angle under the bridge. Another design concept would have the road curve some — again reducing the length of the bridge (and cost).

By: loner34

loner34 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:32:48 +0000

Why does there have to be a bridge over those tracks? When it was closed before the detour had traffic going over THOSE SAME TRACKS on Macarthur road. It doesn’t make sense to me, can anyone please explain the rationale?

By: Wiseman

Wiseman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:53:04 +0000

So instead of allocating money to build a new bridge in a poor part of the city they are going to just doctor this one up and excuse themselves the reasons later on to build it new. It is very typical of this council government to ignore the needs of renewal in poorer neighborhoods and prioritize most money gained to the rich parts of the city. The people of the poorer parts of Wichita need to hold them accountable, take them to court and charge them with social discrimination of infrastructures.