Overpass on Alabama

Alabama Hill Overpass
A few years ago the City of Bellingham spent a million dollars to build an overpass on Alabama Hill. Of course a lot of controversy always accompanies progress, but except for the three or four home owners who were outraged that they would have to put up bedroom curtains to prevent overpassers from seeing them sleep, after a decade most people forgot all about it except in myth.
Because the entrance to the overpass is impossible to find.
It was a good idea because Alabama Street is a busy road that goes from somewhere near middle of town towards residential areas, climbing and descending a steep hill before deadending at Lake Whatcom. It is one of the few ways to get out of town. But the hill is steep. So steep that the city buses removed part of the route claiming that the hill was just too steep to stop on. Fortunately, school buses are made of sterner stuff, so children don't have to walk to school.
But they can. As part of Greenways project, trails were built to make a pleasant walk from homes to schools and parks. Children who lived on the north side of Alabama Hill could take the trail to school without worrying about traffic. If you lived on the other side of the street, you could take the school bus. Which is where the overpass came in.
Theoritically, the overpass provides safe, pleasant way for chickens to cross the road. That is ambitious, robust chickens. Bellingham has a lot more froggers, willing to hop and dodge traffic, but those aren't the type who would be walking on Alabama Hill anyway.
So who does use the overpass? I once tried to find it by walking the Whatcom Falls trails, but even with directions, I was unable to find access to the overpass, which from the street promises a breathtaking overview of the city and bay, or at least a peek into uncurtained bedrooms. Determined to find some way to walk across the overpass- which really should have a name, but because of the city council's poor judgement in naming anything, I would never mention to any of them- I walked straight up Alabama Street's bus engine-killer slope and found that the entrance to the overpass was fifty feet back in the woods. I slogged up the gentle curved entrance to the middle of the bridge, almost enjoyed the breathtaking view when along comes a group of men that I swear look llike government agents. I'm sure it was just coincidence. After all the Minute Men brigade that has convened to protect the northern border from wayward Canadians, needs to drill somewhere.
Nancy Sherer