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City's Rina Cutler on what the South Street bridge means for the city
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City's Rina Cutler on what the South Street bridge means for the city
Did anyone hear anything about the South Street Bridge reopening this weekend?
I'll bet. The Nutter administration didn't exactly forget to remind every journalist in town about it late last week – or all weekend. Having favorably mentioned the bridge's reopening within the context of the city's greatly-improving bicycle amenities last week, this reporter found himself eagerly sought-after by the mayor's press office do write about it . . . again.
But hey, why not? The bridge's reopening is, after all, a big deal for Center City, South Street, and a game-changer for commuters (especially bike commuters) from West Philadelphia. And it opened ahead of schedule. And it looks great, and it represents one of the more forward-thinking city projects we've seen in the last few years.
Ask Deputy Mayor of Transportation and Utilities Rina Cutler, and the bridge represents nothing less
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| Rina Cuter |
than a model for city government at its best. Three years ago, as Mayor Nutter took the reigns, the bridge's overhaul had been dragging on for some fifteen years.
"It was really a poster child for government failure," Cutler says. "And I didn't want a ten-year nightmare on my hands."
What followed, she says, was a concerted effort to get the bridge done quickly while navigating a maze of competing interests and visions from the public: some wanted the bridge widened – but that would have cost more and required rebuilding the pilings; others wanted better pedestrian and bicycle amenities.
"It set a tone for how we will do this in the future," Cutler says. "That everything does not have to look like a highway bridge, and that it's really important to engage the community before you have your design."
The result was a two year project that left the bridge with bicycle lanes in both directions, a pedestrian crosswalk, scenic lookouts over the Schuylkill, and (to come) a ramp connecting the bridge to the Schuylkill River Trail below.
Cutler, perhaps deservedly proud, calls it "A new model going forward in terms of how we do design, community engagement, and how we need to pay attention to project delivery."
What do you think? Post opinions, observations, rants, etc. about the new bridge below.
The bridge is great! A city project completed on time and on budget? I will venture out on a limb and call it unprecedented. And, I positively love the enthusiasm that the city, the South Street West Business Association, and the community generated over the re-opening. I was at a concert this weekend and the host took a minute to shout out to the bridge reopening. Awesome! Way to go Mayor Nutter, et. al. and way to go Philly! My next question is, now that detoured white people have been re-enlightened about blight in Grays Ferry for the past 2 years, will they just forget about it, or will they work for its improvement?
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