CITY TO PRESENT PLANS FOR PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE

By [Laura Shin] The city"s Department of Design and Construction (DCC) will present a plan for the troubled East 81st Street Pedestrian Bridge over the FDR Drive at a Dec. 1 Community Board 8 meeting. â??We need to replace the bridge. We all agree on that, said Chuck Warren, co-chair of the transportation committee. â??Our concern about the previous design was the handicap access. When the DDC came to the committee with a design change for the pedestrian bridge, members of the committee were concerned that the wheelchair ramp was too long, Warren said. â??It looked like it stretched all the way to 79th Street, he said. The committee was displeased with the overall design, he said. The DDC and members of the community have been worried about the bridge"s decaying condition. Warren said the original plan to redesign the bridge was put off for a couple years. The DDC and the committee will pick up the conversation at the next meeting, in which a final design will be presented, according to department spokesperson Craig Chin.