Authorities must make sure they are safe, clean and usable

For years, 68-year-old Abdul Mannan avoided using the Banani Sainik Club footbridge. Suffering from chronic knee pain, he found climbing its steep stairs exhausting.

In the midst of heavy traffic, Ripa Rudra, along with her two-year-old son, was standing next to a footbridge at the Nabisco intersection in the capital’s Tejgaon around 8:00pm.

Anyone who has ever taken a long walk through the streets of Dhaka can vouch that it is unfriendly to pedestrians.