At least one company has developed a walkway system designed to be cantilevered from the existing bridge structure, thereby providing suitable walkway widths on both sides of a bridge without reducing the width of existing traffic lanes. Building or rehabilitating bridges as pedestrian projects will be difficult because of high costs and possible structural problems. For example, it may be impossible to cantilever a sidewalk off the side of an existing bridge. In such cases it will be necessary to add a sidewalk when renovating the entire bridge. There are, however, many examples around the country of successful pedestrian only bridge projects.
Several firms make prefabricated bridges.
It may also be possible to find an existing bridge scheduled for replacement that you can recycle and move to a new location. Such bridges must serve a need and be accessible. If it is possible to situate a pedestrian only bridge next to a roadway bridge that cannot be renovated, roadway crossing problems must also be addressed. Since rehabilitating and constructing bridges is expensive, it often takes several years to complete a project. But once completed, a bridge may serve a community for a generation or more.