The South Street Bridge Opens Saturday!

And I'm really looking forward to it -- the bridge is just a few blocks from my home and has been closed for most of the two years we've lived here. West Philly, you're not going to keep me out!

The Inky reports:

"The South Street Bridge will allow people to move between two neighborhoods without feeling as if they had made a wrong turn on an interstate. At their narrowest, the sidewalks are nine feet, and broaden to 15 on the Center City side.

For bicyclists, there will be direct connections to the Schuylkill Banks path and new cycling lanes on South and Lombard Streets between the bridge and 21st Street. Though they run only a few blocks, those lanes make it possible to travel from, say, Northern Liberties to the University of Pennsylvania exclusively on the city's bicycle network."

Read the whole piece, as they say. Inky architecture critic Inga Saffron does a wonderful job of explaining the importance of a bridge -- not just as a way to move traffic, but as a public space -- in the life of a city. Fascinating reading.