Before the bridge was built, people in our town had to drive twenty kilometers north to cross the river. A trip to the hospital could take an hour. (11) The new bridge opened on a rainy day in May, and the head of the town said it would bring the two sides together. He was right about the cars, (12) he was wrong about something else. Young people now find it easy to leave, and many do. (13), the town has fewer families than it had ten years ago. A bridge carries people in both directions, (14) nobody thought about that at the opening.
Ten years ago, riding a bicycle to work in this city was only for the brave. Cars used every meter of the road, and there was no safe way to cross the big crossing near the station. (15) The city painted a green line along six main roads, put a parking lot for bicycles beside the railroad station, and kept one tunnel for bicycles only. The number of people who ride has grown every year (16) then. Some drivers are not happy. They say the green line takes space away from cars. (17), the city says the same space now carries more people, not fewer. The change did not happen because people suddenly loved bicycles, (18) because the city made the safe choice the easy one.