Mobile County Health Officer: New bridge needs a lane for bikes and pedestrians

MOBILE, Alabama -- A longtime champion for healthy communities, the Mobile County Health Department’s Dr. Bernard Eichold is gaining media attention this week for a letter he sent to Victor Mendez, head of the Federal Highway Administration, asking that a proposed bridge spanning the Mobile River include a plan for pedestrians and cyclists.

The same day the letter was published on al.com, the Mobile Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee voted (Wednesday, June 5) to recommend to the Department of Transportation that bicycle and pedestrian facilities be included on the future Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge, according to Tom Piper, Senior Transportation Planner with the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission.

If that plan is deemed unfeasible, according to Piper, the MPO asked that mitigation alternatives to crossing the river be included in the Environmental Impact Statement.

The June 5 resolution, along with comments, letters, and a petition the MPO  received, will be formally submitted to ALDOT during the upcoming comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Piper said in an email sent to community members.

A petition also is being circulated asking for the inclusion of a bicycle and pedestrian path along the proposed I-10 bridge to be constructed over the Mobile River. More than 1,800 electronic signatures had been collected by Wednesday afternoon.

Another opinion piece published last week pointed out that bridges in other states have been well received and successful in drawing tourists in their respective communities. For example, the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston features a walking/biking path that is 2.7 miles long. Since opening in 2005, hundreds of thousands of cyclists and pedestrians have visited. The city of Charleston now holds a popular Cooper River Bridge Festival and Run that also brings in visitors from across the U.S.

The recently rebuilt Woodrow Wilson Bridge between Maryland and Washington, D.C., lies on the I-95/I-495 corridor. Since 2009, the 1.1-mile long bridge trail across the Potomac River has been shared by cyclists and pedestrians.

Eichold also sent a copy of the May 29 Mendezletter to President Barrack Obama. To read the letter in its entirety, which was published on al.com June 5, click here: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/06/county_health_officer_bert_eic.html#incart_river