In message , at 14:09:31 on Tue, 16
Oct 2012, Peter Campbell Smith remarked:
I believe that the building regs (for non-residential property) state
maximum gradients of 1:20 amongst various other parameters. I don't think
they actually forbid steps, but surely that's assumed.

Perhaps steps are covered by the gradient of the riser?

I also agree that steps like those are awkward even for the able-bodied.
There's a very similar set over the Peterborough inner ring road
(between the station and the City Centre) that are difficult to
negotiate because the steps are too big for one stride each, and too
small for two strides each.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 14:09:31 on Tue, 16
Oct 2012, Peter Campbell Smith remarked:
I believe that the building regs (for non-residential property) state
maximum gradients of 1:20 amongst various other parameters. I don't think
they actually forbid steps, but surely that's assumed.

Perhaps steps are covered by the gradient of the riser?

I also agree that steps like those are awkward even for the able-bodied.
There's a very similar set over the Peterborough inner ring road (between
the station and the City Centre) that are difficult to negotiate because
the steps are too big for one stride each, and too small for two strides
each.
--
Roland Perry

I've sometimes wondered if such 'awkwardness' is deliberate. A slope, or
regular steps, can be taken at a run. Designs such as this are more
difficult to move over quickly and tend to slow the flow down which might be
seen as safer.

On 2012\10\16 22:48, Graham Harrison wrote:

I've sometimes wondered if such 'awkwardness' is deliberate. A slope,
or regular steps, can be taken at a run. Designs such as this are more
difficult to move over quickly and tend to slow the flow down which
might be seen as safer.

I can't help thinking that a cable car would have been cheaper. Although
one might think that machinery would be more expensive than a stationary
lump of steel, the sheer quantity of steel in a footbridge must cost
more than a little gondola, two poles, a wire and a motor. Footbridges
make sense when you have a constant or occasionally strong flow of
people, but I doubt if this footbridge ever sees more than one person in
an hour, and so the vast majority of its structure spends the vast
majority of its time merely holding itself up. I have no idea of the
actual costs though.