Making footbridges user-fiendly

A significant amount of money is spent every year for building foot over bridges. No doubt, they facilitate safe passage of people from one side of the road to the other. But unfortunately, these bridges are full of dirt and detritus. Human faeces can even be found on some bridges.

Most of us do not want to use footbridges as they involve physical stress . Many consider it a time-consuming and labourious task and so try to cross the busy roads directly risking their lives. In this situation, if footbridges are not maintained properly and remain dirty, the pedestrians will also feel discouraged to use them.

Proper monitoring of the footbridges is important to make them user-friendly. Sudden visits by mobile courts can help the authorities concerned ensure that. And the media should encourage pedestrians to use the bridges. Also, steps could be taken to beautify these bridges by planting small ornamental trees. Escalators could be set up for some busy footbridges as well.

MA Islam,

Dhannmondi, Dhaka,

asheqbd@gmail.com