Tough Decision

There has been a lot of work on the road up to our area. They stared by cutting down some old growth Eucalyptus trees, then leveling out the road and adding another lane.

They started to build a overpass for pedestrians about 4 or 5 months ago, and they completing it this week. Last week they were welding on the steel mesh fabric netting on the top and sides of the entire walkway. They have one last side to finish which is what they are working on right now. Half of the metal guard rails have been painted in the common bright yellow paint.....

Not sure why they enclose the walkway like a cage, I guess they don't want any depressed pedestrians jumping in front of a speeding combibus packed full of riders.

What I find difficult to understand is the logic behind this construction.

But then again I find a lot of instances of logic difficult to understand.

Lets look at a few numbers.  The road was is about 75 feet wide, with additional soft shoulders of about 20 ft each side.

 Now if you look at the completed over pass, lets add the distance of all the legs and approaches and include the top of the road section.

The first side has one access ramp. It is about 175ft long.
The overpass itself is about 100 ft wide.
The other side has two ramps and a center landing. The total length of that side is about 300ft.

 So it appears that the walking distance once you have reached the ramp is about 575 feet.


We see these kind of overpasses all over Mexico.

We also see very few of them actually used. The only place we see them used all the time,  is on the autopistas.

Now, there are no overpasses above this location, and none below, which is the more populated area.

So, logically most pedestrians will try to walk across the road of 75 ft instead of 500 ft more up and down walkways....
And they still will be using the road, crossing it as cars zoom by.....

You decide.