What is the cost of a Pedestrian Bridge?

[Bobby5280]

Like the subject line says, how much does it cost to build a pedestrian bridge?

Last night a 53 year old man was killed trying to walk across I-44 just south of the Gore Blvd. interchange in Lawton, OK. He was likely jay-walking across the freeway to get to Comanche Nation Casino. Here is a link to a news story about it:
http://www.kswo.com/story/23315483/pedestrian-hit-killed-in-lawton

During my commute to/from work I see people jay-walking across I-44 frequently either heading to or leaving Comanche Nation Casino. So I'm not too surprised a pedestrian fatality would happen. I figured it was only a matter of time.

One obvious question: why aren't these pedestrians using the Gore Blvd bridge across I-44? Answer: the "sidewalks" on the bridges aren't nearly wide enough for pedestrians. There isn't much in the way of lighting around that interchange either. It might actually be just as dangerous trying to walk across that bridge as jay-walking across the highway.

The way I feel about it, Comanche Nation Casino is making a fortune off the public in Lawton-Fort Sill. This jay-walking issue was created by that casino. Granted, if I had lost enough money that I could only walk to/from the casino I might be tempted to re-examine the importance of gambling as entertainment in my life. But logic isn't coming into play with the dozens of people I see jay-walking across the highway to spend the few dollars they have at the casino. I think the Comanche Nation ought to pay for a pedestrian bridge across I-44. This isn't just to protect its less fortunate customers. This is also about the safety motorists using I-44. It's actually pretty dangerous for a car driver to hit a stationary object weighing upwards or over 200 pounds at a speed of 70mph. That stationary object will cause significant damage to the vehicle and maybe fly up through the windshield. That area of I-44 in front of Comanche Nation Casino is very poorly lit at night. You're not going to see a jay-walking pedestrian until you're right on top of him.

Lawton has a couple other areas I think are sorely in need of pedestrian bridges. I think a large L-shaped bridge is needed at the intersection of Cache Road and Fort Sill Blvd, mainly for school kids walking to Central Middle School or Lawton High. The Cache Road bridge across Fort Sill Blvd has extremely narrow sidewalks not acceptable at all for pedestrian use. There's too many movements of traffic there. I think one leg of the bridge needs to run North-South across Cache Road just west of the Fort Sill Blvd intersection and then another larger leg needs to span the Fort Sill Blvd movement under Cache Road.

[xonhulu]

One built over the Delta Highway in Eugene, OR came in just under $4 million:  http://bridgecolumbia.org/2012/02/bike-and-pedestrian-bridge-in-oregon/

Delta Highway is a freeway, but just 4 lanes, so I'm guessing yours over I-44 would probably need to be longer.

[Scott5114]

Why should the casino pay for a new bridge? It is not their responsibility what happens to people once they leave the building. Casino patrons can be extraordinarily dense–if they will try to stick $100 into a slot machine that is physically powered off I'm pretty sure they would consider crossing the interstate on even with a bridge there.

Lack of sidewalks are a problem statewide. Norman's sidewalks start and stop seemingly at random–it looks like the development status of adjacent lots has to do with whether a sidewalk continues or not. Really, the best approach here would be for the city of Lawton and ODOT to go 50/50 to add better ped access to the Gore Blvd. bridge (you could probably do a cantilevered sidewalk for fairly cheap). That way it would benefit everyone and not just people heading to the casino. Install better fencing along the interstate to force people to use the bridge.

[Bobby5280]

I think it would only be fair for the casino to put up at least some of the cost for something like a pedestrian bridge with as much money as they're taking from the local economy. With the casino not contributing much at all to the local tax base I would be very much against the City of Lawton having to foot the bill for a pedestrian bridge across I-44. The casino would be the main party to benefit from it, with the nearby hotels on either side of I-44 perhaps gaining some lesser benefit.

The scenario of ODOT and the City of Lawton splitting the cost of cantilevered sidewalks on the Gore Blvd. bridges over I-44 sounds a little more sensible. It would take care of foot traffic heading to both Comanche Nation Casino and Apache Casino.


Some of the casino jay-walkers on I-44 are crossing the Interstate halfway between the Gore Blvd. and Lee Blvd. exits, well South of the Gore Blvd crossing over I-44. The man that was hit and killed Sunday night was run over trying to cross one of the Gore Blvd. exit ramps. My guess is if the Gore Blvd. crossing over I-44 at least had more acceptable pedestrian access the man who was killed might not have taken a fatal detour a couple hundred yards to the South.

I think if the City of Lawton had to pay 100% to improve safety along that corridor it probably should start with a taller fence along the West side of I-44 between the Gore Blvd. and Lee Blvd. exits. Maybe even top it off with razor wire. I think that stretch of I-44 needs a number of safety improvements, with LIGHTS being around the top of the list. That area of I-44 is really dark at night. It would be tough to see a pedestrian crossing the highway.

I do agree Oklahoma, in general, has a whole lot of improving to do when it comes to pedestrian & bicycle access in its urban/sub-urban areas. I was in Colorado Springs visiting family last week. Many parts of that city are very good in terms of pedestrian and bike access. It's too bad their arterial highways aren't better. I hate US-24 going East of the 'Springs.

[M86]

I can't answer your question, but if you want to see the most underused pedestrian bridge, look at I-29 just south of the Russell Street/Maple Street interchange in Sioux Falls, SD.  I lived there for about 7 years, and after they widened I-29, they built a ped bridge to connect Southeast Technical Institute with a ghetto/industrial area.  I've never seen anyone use it.

[kurumi]

The cost of the cable-stayed pedestrian/bike bridge over I-280 in Cupertino: $14.8 million (http://www.cupertino.org/index.aspx?recordid=58&page=26).

The bridge location coincides with an old plan to extend Mary Avenue over the freeway, connecting its disjoint segments.

(Also, there have been plans to extend Mary Avenue north, across US 101 and CA 237: http://maryave.com/MAEP_basics/MAE_proj_City.htm)

[Scott5114]

You might think it's fair, but they have the argument that they are not responsible for how people behave off their property, and are not responsible for their customers' behavior in general (any more so than, say, Walmart is), and their only recourse for modifying people's behavior is to bar them from the property. While they could theoretically agree to pay for a bridge as a goodwill gesture, neither the state of Oklahoma nor the city of Lawton has the jurisdiction to force the tribe to do anything.

You're also presupposing the casino is even making enough money to pay for such a thing–casinos actually run on much smaller margins than people realize. Most casino games have a payout of 92ish%, meaning that the casino only retains around 8% of what it takes in as gross revenue, as the rest immediately goes back into payouts. There are lots of expenses to running a casino, such as salaries, electricity (to power 2,000 slot machines is around $100,000 per month), promotions, and comps. Since there are now hundreds of casinos in Oklahoma, there are lot of them that are no longer in the black. Too many casinos, not enough gamblers.

[NE2]

$900,000 in 2005 for a 288-foot bridge over I-4:
http://uglybridges.com/1086361
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2005-07-03/news/SOVERPASS03_1_seminole-pedestrian-bridge-williamson-road