City officials say a well-used footbridge in Kalihi is badly deteriorated and needs to be torn down, but in the meantime dozens of people a day — many of whom are kids or elderly — continue to use the throughway.

City crews inspected the bridge on Violet Street last month and determined its steel beams were corroded and needed to be replaced, and that its wooden railing and walkway were rotting and badly termite-eaten.

Laverne Higa, director of the city Department of Facility Maintenance, has recommended demolition.

She also ordered barricades be put up in front of the bridge to stop walkers, but they were not up by Friday.

In an e-mail to the chairman of the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board last week, Higa also recommended the bridge not be rebuilt. She had earlier said in an e-mail she would request money in next year's budget for its reconstruction. A call to Higa's office was not returned.

Residents say they're happy the city is taking action in the interest of safety, but many also said the bridge should be rebuilt. "A lot of people use it," said Veronica Benkman, a grandmother who was born and raised in Kalihi Valley.

Benkman said the bridge in its present condition is dangerous.

"We kind of cross our fingers and hope nothing happens," Benkman said. "Somebody could fall through."

The walking bridge, which crosses a deep concrete ditch, connects Violet Street so pedestrians can go from Nihi Street to Kamanaiki Street. Officials are still researching how old the bridge is, but residents say it is at least 60 years old and has been decrepit for years.

Kids and seniors use it regularly as a shortcut to a bus stop, residents said. When school is in session, even more children tromp across the bridge daily.

Of most concern to residents is the walkway and railings on the bridge. On one side, the railing is leaning. The wooden boards that make up the walkway are brittle and in danger of giving way.

Bill Woods-Bateman, chairman of the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, said the city needs to do something immediately to make sure no one is hurt. He suggested making temporary repairs to ensure the bridge is safe in the short-term, then returning to reconstruct a bridge in its place or next to it.

"It is decrepit, and it didn't happen overnight," Woods-Bateman said.

In an e-mail to Woods-Bateman, Higa said the bridge "has substantial deterioration." She added: "Inspection of the wood portion of the bridge indicated that there exists wood rot in the stringers atop the I- beams and throughout the deck and railing. There is also insect damage in the railing and portions of the railing, which have broken off from the steel supports attached to the I beams."

Barbara Griggs, who lives on Nihi Street, says she doesn't let her youngest grandchildren walk on the bridge without an adult, but can't keep her older grandchildren from taking the shortcut alone.

"It is dangerous," she said. "You can see the wood is rotten."

Residents have posted "Keep Out" signs at the entrances to the bridge, but few heed them.

Griggs says many figure the bridge has been in such bad shape for so long that they might as well chance it. "Everybody in the valley uses it," said Griggs, who has lived in Kalihi since 1976.

For at least a decade, she says, residents have voiced concerns about the walkway. The only work done on the bridge in recent years was in 2003, when a runaway truck ran into one side of it.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.