Gate gently opened, the first set of internal fences at the Lemieux Island end of the south spans gently cut open, and the second set of internal fences in the middle of the north span also lovingly cut open. (Not that I was ever on the very closed bridge over the weekend, of course.)
NOW: About safety.
1. That internal fence in the middle of the north span actually makes the "closure" more dangerous than leaving the bridge open. Why? Because some person determined to make the crossing could well be tempted to try and clamber around it, and boy would that be a bad idea. It goes to show how much the closure is driven by the idiots in legal, and not by anyone with a grain of sense about how people actually behave.
2. The sidewalks this morning on Queen Street and on Bank Street over the weekend are and were far more dangerous to walk on than the bridge surface. The bridge is covered with rapidly-dissipating wet snow that offers traction. The sidewalks are covered in the same annual compacted crap that the city throws some salt in the general direction of, and calls it a day. Passengers getting off buses are actually at risk of slipping, and falling under and being crushed by the bus they just disembarked from. That risk is 0 on the WCB.
City of Ottawa Legal: if the bridge isn't safe, I have terrible news for you about the liability of the rest of the city's pedestrian infrastructure.
You, too, winter maintenance team.
Edited to add: To the councillors who have been defending this, get out there and walk the damn bridge. Do it. Walk the bridge. Walk the damn closed bridge. And maybe visit Parliament Station on your way home.
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Enjoy my taxes, Orleans (and Kanata?).
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