By Anna Boratyn
Executive Opinion Editor|
The Story:
An inflatable trampoline bridge is soon to be one of the 38 bridges that span the Seine in France.  The bridge was unveiled in plans by Atelier Zundel Cristea, in response to an ideas competition for a new bridge in Paris, which called for a “new icon or landmark.
The architects of the bridge wrote: “It appears to us that Paris already has the bridges and passages necessary for the flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic across its waterways.  Our intention is to invite its visitors and inhabitants to engage on a newer and more playful path across this same water.”
The bridge would be 30 m in diameter and filled with 3,700 cubic meters of air, attached by a cord in a self-supporting structure, stretched to form three arches.  Health and safety concerns have been raised.
My Take:
Full speed ahead, I say.  Let not the fear of one maniac with stiletto shoes dissuade you.  Don’t even worry about the problems associated with large amounts of people jumping up and down in close proximity to one another.  I’m sure every civilian has the aim of an acrobat in Cirque du Soleil.  Really, don’t even worry about it.
But I have to give it to the French.  If I didn’t place so high a premium on life, I would probably think that this is a neat idea.  Do you see the people in this picture?  They’re like 30 feet in the air!  Beneath the hysteria that comes with imminent death, they’re probably having the time of their lives!  Hold on to your berets, French people!
I can only hope that this bridge will be up by the time Prospect’s French students take their trip to France. It seems that we can count on the French to make crossing the Seine inseine.