I'm just an old high school history teacher from Lehighton who taught local history as well as U.S. history. I've watched Jim Thorpe tourism grow from its beginnings with Mauch Chunk Lake to what it is today.

As I drive by the new span being built, I wonder what will become of the old one. I hear tell it will be razed. If that is the case, it's a shame that no one in the powers that be didn't say, "Hey, why not keep it and turn it into a pedestrian and bicycle crossing." Instead of spending a fortune knocking it down, why not put a couple of concrete pylons at each end, put up a couple of kiosks (lease them) for sandwiches and beverages, bolt down tables and benches and let people sit over the Lehigh River as part of their river walk. Oh, erect fences so people can't go over the sides.On another note, you have a parking problem. Construct a gondola system from Flagstaff (park a couple thousand cars up there) and let people ride down (for a small fee) to the new pedestrian bridge, east side, being built. Expensive, yes. Recoupable, definitely.At any rate, it seems a shame to lose the potential of the old bridge - if the argument that it's unsafe is the problem, my guess is that with no vehicular traffic it would probably stand for another one or two hundred years.William R. KlotzTamaqua