Quoted from Tommy

It is indeed, a state bridge.
Otherwise the prime contractor would have been Galesea, cost ten times more, and the bridge would be renamed "The Neal Golub Price Chopper Bridge To Savings".

best post all week!

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

This is the first time that THIS bridge has had its deck replaced since it was built in the 1970's.  

But this is the 4th Western Gateway Bridge.  The first being the wooden bridge built in 1809.

How many of them did you live under?

"Trip, trap, trip, trap! " went the bridge.

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll .

Quoted from Tommy

You haven't LIVED until you've seen the Empire State Plaza, 4th of July fireworks show from the 30th story of the Corning Tower.
I know people that guard, and clean the place.

I went to the 42nd floor observation deck once a long time ago with a friend. (before 9/11)

He really didn't like the express elevator ride, so I said let's take the stairs down and we can race.

When we opened the door to the stairway, we both stopped, because there were stairs going up.

So up we went and when we got to the top, there was a door. No alarms, no guards.

So out we went. Amazingly we were on a flat roof with no sidewalls.

We crawled carefully over to the edge and laid down with our heads hanging over the side.

We stayed for a few minutes then went back to racing down the stairs.

We gave up long before reaching the bottom and took the elevator the rest of the way.

Opinion
View from bridge isn’t as big an issue as guardrail

All the hype about the solid wall on the Western Gateway Bridge connecting Scotia and Schenectady, and your Sept. 10 article and picture, shows something more important missing. Where is the guardrail that separates the sidewalk from vehicular traffic? Maybe you can’t see the river, but you can certainly drive up on the sidewalk. People should be asking how this pedestrian safety rail did not get replaced.
   Sure, I understand sidewalks on busy streets do not have guardrails, but this bridge did. So now, after all this commotion, they are planning to have a railing on the other side [instead of a wall], so people can see.
   Will there be a guardrail to protect pedestrians from traffic?

   ANDREW M. KOPACH Rotterdam

guard rail????  - let Darwin play out and the gene pool

I like Mr. Kopach's letter, but I do not like the editorializing at the top. Mr. Kopach stated that the guardrail was more important than the view. But saying the view isn't as big an issue distorts what he said. The ugly bridge with the view taken away is a very big issue. It isn't an either/or situation, the whole thing is an insult to the city and its residents, and it is a big failure of our local elected officials, who weren't looking out for our interests.

Actually a rail between the cars and any bikers/pedestrians is MORE important than any view.  

That is what Mr. Kopach said, and I supported his viewpoint. I said I did not like the editorializing by the paper, and I explained why. Sheesh.

I drove over the bridge twice today and I didn't even pay attention that a guard rail hasn't been put up, its definitely needed on that bridge especially with the speed people do on it, usually around 40-45MPH. With the sidewalk being so narrow and that being a heavily bike traffic route it wouldn't take much for a bicyclist to drop off the curb if avoiding people coming the other way.  As far as a view goes it should be there for the people, its not much of a view but it was always nice to see Jumpin Jacks and people enjoying themselves while crossing over.

I think it will be odd to have a concrete wall on one side and steel guardrails on the other side, and the wall doesn't look bad.  In fact, it reminds me of the previous Western Gateway Bridge (#3).  

Quoted from exit3

guard rail????  - let Darwin play out and the gene pool

Darwin?

Are you actually implying that anyone who walks or rides a bicycle, is made of lesser stuff, and won't be missed?

You're a loon who is far less intelligent than you fancy yourself to be.
Being killed by properly using a defective product that was presented to you as safe, is not "natural selection".

The people who travel by foot across that bridge already got burned once when the ridiculously narrow sidewalk was installed on the old bridge, now the downward trend continues.
Yes, the concrete wall does look bad, this isn't East Germany circa 1960. This is a big government failure, and it is not a choice of which side looks better without the wall or whether the rail is more important than the views, there is absolutely NO reason not to have a safe, attractive bridge better than it was. That area has some attractiveness remaining, and history, there is no reason to accept having it ruined. Anybody who purports to know anything about history and pretends to be qualified to be some kind of planner, defending this kind of insult to the citizenry, well there you go, that is exactly why we keep sliding further into the abyss. Our local "leaders" are not looking out for our interests, they are in it to steal the last nickel for themselves and get out, while keeping a STAR exemption on the property they leave behind.

   The completed sidewalk is the same width as the one on the previous bridge -- and except for a guardrail between the sidewalk and the driving lanes --  no one seems to be having any difficulty walking and even riding  bikes across the bridge.  The DOT said that the lane on the other side was already designed to be wider and   expressly designed to carry the bike route traffic.
   Looking at the bridge BOTH from driving across it and from the vantage point of the riverside park adjacent  to S.C.C.C. the bridge -- and the concrete wall -- actually look quite attractive.  It doesn't look like the cookie  cutter 1970's era bridges that scar the American countryside.

When you walk or bike across ANYTHING you can comment on the sidewalk width. The concrete wall can never look better than a pretty view.

The bridge looks great and works fine.  

Oh -- by the way -- Staring at the river while driving across the bridge is just as bad as texting or talking on a cellphone while driving.  Look at the road and traffic AHEAD of you.