Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t understand the fascination to spend money to save and then maintain a bridge to nowhere. For once, I agree with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

RIDOT plans to demolish the Crook Point Bascule Bridge, but the General Assembly recently advanced legislation to help the city of Providence preserve the rusted railroad drawbridge. RIDOT is willing to transfer it to the city. Of course it is.

Somehow the busted bridge, standing at attention over the Seekonk River since its abandonment five decades ago, has become an iconic feature. If we’re going to celebrate decrepit stuff along the city’s waterfront, we should have kept the sunken barge sticking out of the Providence River.

Both the House and the Senate have given preliminary approval to matching bills to create a Crook Point Bridge Authority, an independent entity to acquire, develop, and maintain a bridge to the clouds.

Perhaps, we should spend that money, time, and effort rebuilding the broken Washington Bridge, before it becomes an iconic feature and is placed, like the Crook Point Bridge, on the Providence Preservation Society’s Most Endangered Places list.

We also need to replace the pieces of a ramp to Interstate 95 that last week collapsed and fell onto Amtrak railroad tracks. Plus, the city’s public schools could also use some funding, leadership, and repair.

The drawbridge was built in 1908 to bring freight and passenger trains from Providence to East Providence while also enabling the continued use of the Seekonk River by watercraft. It has stood in its upright position since being taken out of service in 1976.

Preservationists and Providence Mayor Brett Smiley say the bridge is too much a part of the city’s fabric to be demolished. Crook Point Bridge enthusiasts have mentioned the reuse of the interrupted span and the unconnected areas on either side of the river.

A proposal generated through a design competition envisioned part of the bridge being converted to a public pier disconnected from the 125-foot-high upright section, which would be illuminated with multicolored lights.

“The Crook Point Bridge is a beloved landmark in Providence. It encapsulates our identity: historic, post-industrial and proudly, delightfully weird. Its image has been put on T-shirts. It deserves to live on, ideally in a way that increases public access and enjoyment of it,” Rep. Rebecca Kislak, D-Providence, said.

The upright bridge is also a reminder, at least to me, of the state’s broken public transit system. Every time I pass it — much more slowly during the past two-plus years — I think how great it would be if the bridge was slammed down and the rail line used to transport people.

It also reminds me of the mess that is the city’s waterfront.

The Crook Point Bridge Authority established through the legislation would serve as the legal entity that would take ownership of the bridge. Its three members would be appointed by Providence’s mayor with consent of the City Council. The legislation also empowers the authority to raise and receive money to maintain and redevelop the property.

Historical preservation is important, but unless the plan is to lower the drawbridge and turn the rail line into a pedestrian and bicycle urban trail that connects other transit infrastructure and features green space, money and time needs to be directed a more-pressing issues, like the state’s other crumbled and crumbling bridges and overpasses.

Cleaning up the rusty infrastructure, leaving the drawbridge at attention, and draping it with colorful lights says we’re devoid of good ideas.

Note: Frank Carini is a former Providence resident. He didn’t move out of the city because of the broken Crook Point Bascule Bridge.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.