[PRCo] Re: Cleveland Sidaway bridge

[Herb Brannon]

The bridge is still standing, or was the last time I worked the 14-KINSMAN line. It (the bridge) is located just off Kinsman Avenue about 650-feet east of the overpass which carries Kinsman Avenue over the railroad tracks and the RTA rapid tracks and Central Rail Shops.
   
  I would not advise anyone to jump on a 14-Kinsman bus and ride out to the bridge unless you have armed guards with you. It is a VERY, VERY rough neighborhood. The Garden Valley projects (they always give those "airy" type names to hard-core slums) are right there near Sidaway Avenue and the bridge. I feel certain that any 'railfan' type looking at the bridge would become cannon fodder for the local hoods. I don't have any fear when driving the bus because I have the combined forces of the Cleveland Police Dept., Cuyahoga Metro Housing Authority Police, RTA Transit Police, Cuyahoga County Sheriffs Dept., and one or two other agencies protecting me and RTA property. People think twice before doing "things" on RTA because they will be arrested and jailed.
   
  But yes, the bridge is there and looks like a model of the "Golden Gate" bridge.
Bob Rathke <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote:
  I lived in Cleveland (Lakewood), Ohio in the 1960's and early 70's, and I 
never knew about the Sidaway Bridge.
I am familiar with the SHRT, but I don't think that the structure was ever 
perceived as a "bridge."

Also see the following message from railfan friend Dick Bloss who has lived 
in Cleveland Hts.since 1963:

I have never heard of this bridge. Not in 44 years here.

Bob 4/25/07 





Herb Brannon