I am not a city resident, but many of us county residents utilize the city streets, trails, businesses and facilities in Durango, and so I would like to address the proposed Animas River Trail bridge at 32nd Street.
I agree with the assessment of many citizens that this bridge, actually three bridges as shown in the rendering published in The Herald, are an abomination.
I question the safety concerns of trail users crossing the railroad tracks, as pedestrians currently do from the adequate and safe walkways incorporated in the existing 32nd Street bridge.
I have counted over 15 places in Durango where pedestrians cross the railroad tracks on streets, from College Drive to 15th Street, and including eventual access to pedestrian bridges spanning the Animas River in town.
There are far more pedestrians crossing the tracks at these crossings than cross at 32nd street. So I guess the city and the state regulatory commission need to declare all these crossings as dangerous and unsafe and build bridges over each and every one.
These terribly unsafe conditions in which the city persists in placing large numbers of pedestrians at risk of injury and possible death from a passing train need to be addressed, and should be done so out of the Parks and Rec budget, since crossing the railroad tracks anywhere in town is literally a route to a park.
Kinda dunks the proposed new bridges at 32nd Street right into the waters of the Animas!
Thomas HelmIgnacio
