Putting The Tappan Zee Onto The List Of World's Most Amazing Bridges

Ponte Vecchio Covered Bridge In Florence, Italy. Source: Forbes

The New York Times has been buzzing with anticipation over the proposed transformation of the 56 year-old Tappan Zee bridge in Northern Manhattan into a SWPL-style pedestrian walkway, à la High Line in the Meatpacking District. 

Inhabited bridges like the splendid Ponte Vecchio were common in European cities in the Middle Ages. Mostly the houses were occupied by merchants, but also there were some time-traveling NYT-reading SWPL-types who paid top dollar to relocate their solar-powered Brooklyn lofts to the half-timbered homes o'r the water smack in the middle of the Dark Ages. (They didn't stay long, however: not enough diversity back then). Here is another example of a glorious Medieval inhabited bridge, the Kramerbrucke in Germany : 

In a salute to the great tradition of the inhabited bridges of Europe and the equally unique covered bridges of North America, we at COTT submit that the Tappan Zee bridge be transformed, not into a SWPL pedestrian walkway, but rather into an eco-friendly Section 8 housing development.

Hey, it's not a bad idea.