At Thursday’s ESCRP community workshop, there was a lot of talk about whether the Delancey Street bridge or Corlears Hook bridge made for easier access to East River Park from Grand Street. A lot of the debate seemed to be between cooperators who really don’t use either bridge very often and don’t understand the meandering path one has to take to cross the FDR at either point.

So I measured it. Google Maps actually makes this very easy. Just trace the actual path on a map and you’ll get an exact distance of your route.

The answer? The distance from the corner of Grand Street right across the FDR to the seal sprinklers is almost exactly the same no matter which bridge you choose — right around 1,700 feet, or 6.5 standard city blocks. That’s the same as walking from that corner in the other direction all the way up to Bialystoker Street.

In comparison, adding stairs to a redesigned pedestrian bridge similar to the concept #2 presented last week, would cut that distance in half, to 857 feet. That’s like walking from that same Grand Street corner to Fine Fare.

The longer walk might not be an impediment, but it’s obvious that a redesign with access to Grand Street could make East River Park much closer. If that’s what you’d like to see happen, sign this change.org petition for safer pedestrian access from Grand Street to the park.