Meaning & use
pedestrian bridge
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A bridge for people on foot, sometimes also bicycles, that cars and trucks cannot use.
Grammar: Usually used with cross: cross the pedestrian bridge.
Patterns
- cross a pedestrian bridge
- a pedestrian bridge over something
Commuters crossed the pedestrian bridge to reach the station.
A new pedestrian bridge now links the park to the old town.
The pedestrian bridge over the highway keeps children away from traffic.
Word forms
| plural | pedestrian bridges |
|---|
Common combinations
- cross the pedestrian bridge
- We crossed the pedestrian bridge at sunset.
- build a pedestrian bridge
- The city plans to build a pedestrian bridge across the river.
- pedestrian bridge over a highway
- A pedestrian bridge over the highway links the two neighborhoods.
- suspended pedestrian bridge
- The suspended pedestrian bridge swayed a little in the wind.
- glass pedestrian bridge
- A glass pedestrian bridge connects the two towers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- footbridge
- Footbridge is the same thing and is the usual British word, while pedestrian bridge is more common in American English.
- overpass
- Overpass is a road or path crossing over another road and is not limited to people on foot.
- skywalk
- Skywalk is an enclosed or raised walkway between buildings and is not necessarily over water or traffic.
- walkway
- Walkway is a general term for any path for walking and need not be a bridge.
Word family
- pedestrian noun
- a person walking rather than riding
- pedestrianize verb
- to make a street for walkers only
- pedestrianization noun
- the act of turning a street into a walking area
- bridge noun
- a structure for crossing an obstacle
Commonly confused: pedestrian bridge or pedestrian crossing? pedestrian bridge or underpass?
pedestrian bridge vs pedestrian crossing
A pedestrian crossing is a marked place to cross a road at street level, while a pedestrian bridge goes over it.
pedestrian bridge vs underpass
An underpass lets people or traffic pass beneath a road, whereas a pedestrian bridge goes above.
Practice
The children use the ____ to cross the busy highway safely.
Choose one answer.
A pedestrian bridge lets people cross over traffic without meeting cars. A traffic light, parking lot and bus lane do not provide a way over the highway.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pedestrian bridge”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.