

BRIDGE OF DREAMS: Randy Murphy contributes his idea of new Broadway Briidge on Facebook page.

I’m all for signature architectural works. But, as I wrote yesterday, I’m nowhere near ready for the three amigos — Mayors Stodola and Hays and County Judge Villines — to go to the sales tax (or property tax) well again to replace the Broadway Bridge with an artistic design that would cost a great deal more if it serves art as well as simple function.

Let’s see a public-private partnership where the privates really pony up for once for one of those swell ideas they prefer the peons to finance to enhance their bottom lines. (Background: The state has enough federal money in hand to replace the bridge with a plain vanilla but serviceable design. The extra money is to lift it out of the ordinary.)

Happily, a new Facebook page intended to build momentum for a significant bridge is drawing a cross-section of comments on this very debate. Check it out. (That image above is taken from a YouTube video that includes several different prospects of an imagined design.)