urban bridge
Introduction
A pedestrian bridge is a structure that allows pedestrians to cross over bodies of water, traffic routes or valleys in mountains. They can be built in different types of materials. There are static and mobile ones (that fold, rotate or elevate). The sizes are very diverse from a few meters to hundreds of meters. Due to the low load for which they are designed and the limited length they have to traverse, their design can be very diverse.
From the point of view of transportation planning, the great advantage of this structure is that it does not hinder traffic. From the pedestrian's point of view, this type of structure lengthens the path compared to a zebra crossing or a traffic light.
As a notable architectural example of this type of bridge, we can mention the Millennium Bridge in London, the Sant'Angelo Bridge in Rome, the Bridge of Arts in Paris or the all-glass passage at the Franz Josef Strauß Airport in Munich.
The Three Countries Bridge, an arch bridge between the German city of Weil am Rhein and the French city of Huningue, is the longest pedestrian and bicycle bridge in the world.
Controversies
Anti-Pedestrian Bridges[1]
In recent years, urban areas have given priority to the movement of motor vehicles, fragmenting public space through expressways, peripherals, bridges and overpasses. All these works do not consider the right to mobility and the city of the inhabitants,[2] since pedestrians must divert their desire lines to where the bridges are located, which implies more time and effort, they have an unfriendly design for vulnerable users such as children, elderly people or people with disabilities.[3] In addition, they do not meet their objective of saving lives, since a study carried out in 2008 by the Institute of Geography of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), revealed that 26.68% of accidents in Mexico City occur less than 300 meters from 66.45% of pedestrian bridges,[4] Therefore, the construction of "anti-pedestrian" bridges has an urban engineering logic that favors the movement of motor vehicles and not injury prevention.[5].
In 2014, the Pedestrian League (Mexico) presented the Mexican Charter of Pedestrian Rights and in April 2016, deputy Víctor Hugo Romo presented the Mexican Charter of Pedestrian Rights bill before the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District, based on the Pedestrian League document, but adding references to "anti-pedestrian bridges" in some articles, such as article 19, which prohibits the installation of such bridges in traffic lighted roads.[6][7].