Geneva narrows down bridge options
When the north bridge at Island Park in Geneva is replaced, park commissioners would like it to have a place where people can pause to take in the scenery without tangling with a jogger or being run over by a bicyclist.
The Geneva park board, in an unofficial poll of commissioners at its meeting Monday, picked a bridge design with an oval lookout to present to the Geneva Historic Preservation Commission today. The commission has a say on the bridge because the park is in the city's historic district. Changes in design to the 76-year-old concrete bridge must get the panel's approval. Members will meet at 7 p.m. at city hall, 109 James St.
Parks Commissioner Todd Karas was absent.
"It's a cleaner look, it's a little classier look," Commissioner Peggy Condon said of the design, as opposed to another option which featured a pair of smaller outlooks. She and another board member admired a fourth design, which featured offset outlooks, but both felt it was a little too out of character with the current bridge and the park.
"I'm just as guilty as the next guy of flying over that bridge on my bike," said Larry Gabriel, superintendent of parks and properties.
Absent-minded pedestrians often lean or step back from the rails of the 8-foot-wide bridge. When the bridge is congested, Gabriel said he gets off his bike and walks it across. When park vehicles have to use it, staff makes people get off the bridge entirely.
Even if widened to 10 feet as planned, it would still be a tight squeeze for both spectators and those passing through.
The bridge's designer, Mark Wylie, estimates that adding the oval lookout could add $160,000 to $180,000 to the cost of the bridge. Without the lookouts, estimated costs have been pegged at $700,000 to $1 million, depending on the number of piers and whether the design includes concrete walls (the current look) or steel-railing walls.
Because construction costs have not been determined yet, Gabriel and Wylie will also present the plain version to the historic commission.