bridge to everywhere

We traversed this grand old span several times during the past three days "on shanks' mare," while encamped just up the hill on the north side of the Tennessee River in Chattanooga. The Walnut Street Bridge is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world. Some of the festive mood we found on and around it must have been due to the holiday, but credit as well the way such a magnificently-useful structure knits a community and its places to navigably-human scale. I miss it already. It was wonderful to see so many happy people out and about, afoot and on bikes and other locomoting conveyances, at all hours of day and night, safely and cheerfully going and coming, and generally just sharing a lovely public space that takes you where you want to go. It's the way we all should live. I understand why this community makes the "most livable" lists. Viewing bridge travelers from Coolidge Park, at its feet, was a reminder that we're all skywalkers on this spherical bridge against the dark.