please empty your brain below

See also:

The Walthamstow Queen's Road link: http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/walthamstow-queens-road.html
There is a fairly new pedestrian bridge over the railway near me. It stands next to an old pedestrian bridge. The new one has only a very long ramp to reach to the top which means long walk, whereas the old bridge is quick up and over stairs.(The two bridges exit into slightly different places).
I wish that if that when they built these new bridges with ramps they would also put in a set of stairs as for those who are able bodied the long walk up the ramp is time wasting.
The ramps are also found on pedestrian bridges over main roads, and to me and others must deterring as many people choose to take the risk of crossing at road level.
Children enjoy cycling down the ramps when they can get away with it.
Half Term? Went to the Science Museum yesterday and it was heaving, wish I hadn't bothered. It's probably 20 years since I've been there and frankly I was disappointed. They seemed to have kidified it and the layout, stairs and lifts are a mixture of confusion and impossibility.
anonymous at Half term.
I also went to the museums but on Tuesday. I took two overseas visitors. I left them at the British Museum with instructions on how to get to South Kensington in the afternoon. I advised them half term was not good for museum visits, which is why I was heading back home, (plus it was too sunny to stay inside).
They arrived back at my place about 4.30pm. They did not bother with Natural History museum as the queue was outside and long, tried the Victoria and Albert which was very busy, then they looked in at the Science Museum which they said was not so full but still not pleasant.
I agree the Science Museum is not as good as it was in the 1960's and 70's.
Or maybe we were young then and saw things differently.
So once again the best is the enemy of the good. I wonder in a year how many people in wheelchairs would use that bridge, and how many would be on their own with no one to help them? I am reminded of a library in an old Colonial era building in America which did not have disabled access, but ramps could not be put in because it was a historic building, so it's just been left empty for years. Surely better that 99% of people can use something than nobody.
Proper signposting should be part of the accessibility, don't you think?
John, from the OSM mapping, it would appear that there is a set of steps at one end to avoid having to use the full ramp.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/51.42133/-0.18218
As it's supposed to be part of a cycleway, I suspect that the proportion of users who could manage the steps may be rather less than the 90% + you suggest.
timbo
As a cyclist I have no trouble getting off my bicycle and carrying it over footbridges. I am sure many others can do the same. Still quicker than the zig-zag ramps.
"a waterside path from Carshalton to Woolwich". You what? To Wandsworth, more like.

You norf Londoners. You just don't know one bit of south London from another!

dg writes: To Wandsworth, more like, sorry.
I was a little taken aback by a narrow footbridge near Canterbury East station which has only steps. (With a 4-inch-wide ramp at the side on which one can, with difficulty, push a bike up or down). A large sign at the foot of the steps declares "Cyclists must dismount". What else might they wish to do?
These days I'm a mobility scooter user so I'm eternally grateful for ramps and such like. I realise providing accessibility costs money and isn't always possible. I don't know where I stand on this discussion ... on the one hand I want the ramps and am thrilled to bits when I go somewhere that I can get around easily ... on the other hand surely any facility even if its not completely accessible is better than no facility because it would cost too much ... and then again, if you allowed people to use the "too expensive" wild card, nothing would improve.
Interesting piece. It's clear from what you say that if the planning laws weren't so strict, there would be no accessible bridge. And now there is one, despite a delay. We do have the money in this country to make infrastructure accessible, and we do need laws and guidelines to jog everyone into doing the right thing.

It's more than a few people that still wouldn't be able to get across the river had the bridge been built with steps only. An awful lot of people need ramps, whether they are parents, elderly, or otherwise disabled.
I agree with the previous poster that proper signalling is really important here.










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