this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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[–] baggins@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Not a single person would ever walk on that thing. It looks at least twice as long as the direct path.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Alternative solution, block off the road to get ready for construction. Then realize it's nice not having that road there, and get rid of it. Money saved and it's nicer.

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That was my proposed alternative I encouraged my friends to call about. I don't know how it wasn't obvious that if your goal was to increase pedestrian safety and encourage visiting your park in the middle of downtown (which was the public justification in the survey) that the best way to do that would be to get rid of the 2 highways trisecting your park. Grass them over to both remove traffic and increase park space, install meandering leisure paths through a history walk, and have local Coloradoan artists produce for a dedicated Coloradoan history sculpture park.

Oh, and if you really, really want members of the public to use your public park get rid of the helicopter parent rangers that yell at you for touching the oldest tree in Denver or for falling asleep, get rid of the signs that forbid standing still or loitering (at a fucking park of all places), and don't close off the grass areas periodically.

You could even go so far as to install more trash cans or make the bathrooms available 24/7.

It's not that the public didn't care about your fake liberty bell, it's that your park is kinda a hostile environment with shitty infrastructure.

See these are all good suggestions, but with what little I know about Colorado your best bet is to challenge them to a fist fight during a hockey match and winner designs the park.

You could even sell tickets and raise money for the reconstruction. Lol

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Closing Broadway Lincoln and Colfax would cause a traffic nightmare. Hell, that bus stop at Lincoln and Colfax is the busiest in the state, afaik

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It would cause traffic change, sure. But that change could be modeled, tested, and adapted around beforehand. Hell you can even go a step further and implement more routes for the free mall ride, move parking and traffic even further from the city center and use it as an opportunity to promote public transit. Sure nimbys would complain, cause that's what they always do, but when they see how much easier it is travel to and within downtown, how much quieter it is there, and how great the now enlarged park is surrounded by stuff to actually see and do they'll pretend like it's always been that way or that they were always for it.

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

I think I can see your vision and yeah, it would be cool but where would we put commercial traffic? Can't put it north of Colfax, everything down to 8th is fucked and 8th/6th is maxed out.

Maybe a tunnel or two?

[–] Taco2112@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

It was supposed to have info panels on it and the reason it’s so goofy is because that area is designated at a National Landmark so it was designed to comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for preservation.

I don’t mind the sentiment of linking the state with the city but yes, that bridge is a waste of money and only detracts from the space.

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The bridge was the governor’s idea to celebrate the state’s 150th anniversary. But it was panned by lawmakers, historic preservationists and, apparently, the public.

The bridge would have been paid for by private donations, though the state shelled out $1.5 million in planning costs.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Who the fuck is privately donating $28.5 million to the state to build a walkway in front of tne capitol? I don't really have an opinion on the bridge itself but I really want to know who's throwing money at this.

[–] azimir@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 week ago

That's not a pedestrian bridge. A pedestrian bridge is designed to efficiently get pedestrians from one place to another.

That's a monument or memorial. It's potential a cultural art center or other city resource to make the space interesting/informative/engaging. Calling it a pedestrian bridge isn't doing it justice.

That said, I'm in strong favor of pedestrian resources and cities building interesting architecture to make the city itself interesting & beautiful, but this one's ugly as fuck and shouldn't be built.

[–] fedupwithbureaucracy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I am failing to comprehend what is going on here. He wants to stop a bridge, that was his idea? Am I reading that right?

[–] Taco2112@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

Yes, because no one else wants it, including: lawmakers, preservationists, and the public. It was a design by committee project that the public had no real say in what it would be or look like. No one liked it when it was finally unveiled.

[–] baggins@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

The article that is linked in the post explains it pretty well.

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

Just build tiny houses, Polis! That boondogle would have just been inadequate shelter for the homeless anyway.

Build affordable housing!

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago
[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

He has courage I give him that