007 That New Bridge Across the River

 A few months ago we walked across the San Diego River / Mission Bay bridge. Today we walked across again, but on the new bridge, just opened for traffic in the past couple of days. 

Ignoring the different colors of the sky, you can see lots of difference in the pedestrian accomodations. 

  • Old bridge has a light every 100 yards 
  • New bridge has a light every 50 feet
  • Old bridge has galvanized steel railings
  • New bridge has a curb on the outer edge and sophisticated handrails



These are better-built than almost anything nowadays, with stainless bolts, allen-head hex fasteners, recessed LED lighting in the uprights every 6 feet. There are custom cast markers saying this bridge belongs to San Diego. Hmm - is our city that rich that we can have cast aluminum signs? If so, why do we have endless potholes and homeless on the streets?



In the middle of the bridge the designer incorporated a bulge to allow birdspotting (my guess) or large crowds or fat people to pass each other. The wood panels are in places where the rail line shifts outward -- someone messed up or forgot that custom fabrication of those specific panels would be needed to align with the shift in the bridge's concrete walkway.

This lane for pedestrians and bicycles will be 12 feet wide, when the project is finished.



Photo angles from the bridge are quite nice.

 

A rare vantage point for salt water birds.



Ducks don't seem impressed though. Or are they ostrichs?



This is a new one for me - a Black-Necked Stilt



I'm wearing one of my favorite watches today; it has accompanied me all around the world on my business travels.



We are having an extremely low tide right now, which is a boon to all the birds here. They are literally wading in food. The ducks are having to come up between bites for a breath of air.











The sun is warm enough to take off my sweater. Sadly we are looking at rain most of the rest of this week, according to the weatherman.




Even the shore birds are relaxed about things today. I was 6 feet away for these photos.



A very nice day.



Cazalea

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