What Should the Quincy Park District Do About the Quinsippi Island Bridge?

The Quincy Park District is facing a dilemma. Where do they come up with the money needed to replace the Quinsippi Island Bridge. The bridge is in need of costly repairs or total replacement. A new bridge could cost as much as $5 million. 

Potential costs of repairing the current bridge would be in the neighborhood of $700 thousand. That would repair one of the five bridge piers that has been determined to be in poor condition. With time, the other four piers will most likely need repair as well.

Now the next discussion has to be just how many people actually use the bridge. Basically, that number would be comprised of people who use the Park District boat slips on the island. According to a report in the Herald Whig, there are 241 boat slips in the marina. And there are a total of 90 slips that remain open. So basically 37% of the slips are open.

So how does the Park District justify the cost of repairing or building a new bridge for so few people to use? What new options do they have? One is to operate a ferry to the island. Another is to use a golf cart to shuttle people to the island or they could move the marina to the riverfront.

One option I have not heard is for the Park District to totally get out of the boat slip rental business altogether. None of those options are ideal but they are better than a $5 million dollar expense of building a new bridge. Park Board meetings could be getting a little more interesting.