There's a Plan for a Pedestrian Bridge Over the Mystic River (But No One to Pay for It)

Dante Ramos chimes in on the issue of infrastructure funding as a challenge of American contemporary culture.

Past Generations in Greater Boston knew it was their duty to improve the landscape — to build parks and seawalls, subways and bridges — for the benefit of all future residents. In 2018, we can still dream up useful new pieces of civic hardware, such as the cool new footbridge now proposed for the Mystic River between Somerville and Everett.

Now, writes, Ramos, "we keep assuming that somebody else, anybody else, should pick up the tab."

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation has been studying the Mystic River footbridge, and the plan they've come up with estimates a $23 million with a possible $10 million extra to connect to the nearby MBTA's Assembly Square Orange Line station. "Beyond connecting Somerville’s Assembly Square development with the Wynn Resorts casino now under construction in Everett, the bridge would make the network of bicycle and pedestrian pathways along the Mystic far more useful for pedestrians and bike commuters in surrounding communities," according to Ramos.

The latest news of the project is definitely a one step forward, one step back kind of a situation, however. As Ramos's Boston Globe colleague Adam Vaccaro reported earlier this month, after the Department of Conservation and Recreation unveiled the plans for the bridge, neither the state agency nor Wynn resorts seem eager to pay for the project.