Letter: Let’s keep the swing bridge

Regarding the Rock Island/Swing Bridge in St. Paul Park (“Counties haggle over swing bridge,” May 28) I think the loss of any part of the structure would be a tragedy.

The bridge has served the community for well over a hundred years, to just tear it out and lose it to the history books would be a shame.

What kind of legacy/history are we leaving for future generations? We live in such a throw away society today that our answer to every problem is to get something new and trash the old.

This bridge is an important part of our community's history. In St. Paul Park, we have "Heritage Days" and Heritage Park but what heritage do we really care about?

Don't we want our accomplishments to go down for the ages, or are we satisfied knowing that they will only last a few decades?

This is our chance to do something good and save an important part of our history; once it's gone we will never have anything like it again, you can't rebuild or replace something that would do such a unique structure justice.

Let's keep the old thing. The road deck was recently replaced before it was closed and the railings are only missing where vandals have torn them out. The railings that exist are so sturdy that 10 years of neglect and vandalism have not removed them yet.

I always felt safe driving across that structure. I never found a reason that someone couldn't walk or bike on it.

It was built for rail traffic and re-enforced as trains grew heavier. If it was built to support a locomotive it can handle some pedestrians.

Daniel Dague

St. Paul Park

Tags: opinion, dague, swing, bridge