Bridges Are Costly

The rehabilitated Blackfriars Bridge was officially reopened on Saturday, December 1.  Judy and I had been watching the 13-month project closely, because the Thames Valley Parkway, which we train on for three seasons of the year, passes by the eastern end of the bridge. The oldest bridge in London and one of the few remaining wrought-iron, bowstring-arch truss bridges in North America (and the only one still used for vehicular traffic), the bridge was built in 1875 for $14,711. When structural damage was discovered in 2013, city council was required to make a choice–replace the bridge, rehabilitate it, or remove it.  They chose to rehabilitate the bridge (saving as many of the original components as possible), and even though the job cost $8.6 million, the community seems to support council’s decision. 

Bridges are costly, as any community intersected by waterways or railways–and London is by both–knows well.  At least 22 bridges carrying vehicular traffic cross the Thames River and the North Thames River within the city limits, not counting bridges over tributaries like Medway Creek, pedestrian bridges over the river, and bridges over the CN and CP railroad lines. London is home to a total of 102 bridges, and about half of them are 50 or more years old and soon in need of serious maintenance or replacement. In three years, the nearly 100-year-old Victoria Bridge (which straddles the Thames at Ridout Street, near our home; shown in the banner image) will be replaced for a projected $14 million.  But the cost of these projects is small change compared to the cost of replacing the Port Mann Bridge that connects Coquitlam to Surrey in British Columbia.  With the cost of upgrading the access highways included, the 10-lane bridge cost $2.46 billion to build.

Bridges are costly but they are essential.  Waterways isolate and separate; bridges connect.  In historic times, rivers and lakes were the highways of Canada’s indigenous people and the first settlers, but as communities like London were established along rivers, bridges were built to facilitate the easy daily movement of people, produce and manufactured goods.  As cities expand, the need for bridges grows to accommodate the demand for safe, quick access to employment, education, medical care and entertainment. As you know, my childhood and teenage years were spent on Manitoulin Island.  Beginning in 1946, automobile traffic was allowed to cross a railroad bridge linking the island to the mainland, but previous to that time cars and trucks were only able to cross the North Channel by ferry when the water was open and by ice road during the winter. Without critical infrastructure like bridges, communities cannot prosper and their citizens will not thrive. The nonprofit organization Bridges to Prosperity believes that rural isolation is a root cause of poverty, and works with isolated communities to create access to essential health care, education and economic opportunities by building footbridges over impassable rivers. 

Not all bridges are built of concrete and steel or even wood and stone. The relationships we build over the course of our lives are bridges that connect us to others, and are just as essential to human thriving and community health as bridges of the structural kind. Bridges of compassion, love, kindness, and mutual support connect us to human beings who otherwise will be separated from us by the fast-flowing waters of everyday preoccupations and the concern for our own survival–and sometimes even by misunderstanding, disinterest and dislike. But these bridges are also costly, and because of the cost often fail to be built or maintained, and we and our community are impoverished as a result.

I learned that a long walk and calm conversation are an incredible combination if you want to build a bridge.
~ Seth Godin

Here are three keys to building relationship bridges:

• Prioritize bridge-building. Few, if any of us, deliberately choose to spend our lives in isolation from friends and neighbours, but the reality of our hectic and challenging lives keeps us skimming across the surface of relationships. The human struggle to survive generates a tendency toward self-isolation. But, just as justice begins by not looking away, the building and maintenance of bridges begins by choosing to face my neighbour.  When I turn away from my own priorities and acknowledge my shared humanity with my neighbour, I see the need or opportunity for a bridge–the bridge of a kind word, an offer of assistance with clearing his driveway of snow, even an acknowledgment of the commonality within our human experience that is a conversation about the weather, the economy or the Maple Leafs.
• Work to keep bridges safe and strong. As every government knows, bridges don’t last for ever, and require regular maintenance.  Anything that is neglected eventually crumbles away.  Be quick to ask for forgiveness when a relationship has been placed under stress, and be prepared to take extraordinary measures to preserve a valuable bridge (like Blackfriars Bridge!).  When a relationship with a close associate was strained a few years ago, she stopped responding to my email messages.  After a few attempts to re-establish a connection, I gave up. Now that she has passed away, I wish I had not given up so easily.  I should have picked up the phone and given her a call to say, “Can we talk?”
• Restrict the transport of dangerous goods.  Bridges, like the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, will sometimes be required to restrict or prohibit the transport of dangerous goods because the bridge’s structure is not deemed strong enough to withstand a spill of corrosive or explosive materials.  Neither should we allow toxic thoughts or corrosive attitudes to destroy the bridges that connect us with friends, co-workers and neighbours.  We can choose what cargo we carry with us as we travel the bridges we’ve created.
  
  

Bridges are costly but essential.  Without bridges of relationship, we will be isolated and impoverished, less than our best selves.

Unless otherwise noted, all text and images © 2018 Edwin Wilson