Friday, December 8, 2017

The Bridge

Today's opening of the Harrison Avenue bridge in Scranton started me thinking about another Scranton bridge-- the one that connects Mulberry Street to the North Scranton Expressway.

An old steel truss bridge was replaced in the 80's with the standard PennDOT design.  Plain.  Nothing fancy.  It gets the job done.


Just before the new bridge opened, someone (I don't know who) suggested a series of colored light tubes over the traffic lanes to welcome passengers and their vehicles into the city.  I remember thinking it was one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard, and a colossal waste of money.  I know there were artists' renderings of the light tubes.  I'm sorry.  A Google search failed to turn up anything.


As I looked at the Mulberry Street bridge on a recent morning, I thought it needs something.  After all, the new Harrison Avenue bridge has some new architectural elements that were copied from the old.

When it comes to road projects and spending money, I'll take patching pot holes over colored light tubes any day of the week, and I still feel that way.

Maybe, some day, someone will figure out a way to dress up the bridge without sticking taxpayers with the bill.