The condition of the Longfellow Bridge is something most Red Line riders and drivers would rather not think about as they cross the Boston-Cambridge border. If you've ever walked across it, you might have wondered if it would collapse with a mere hop, skip and jump.

And it might, especially during the 4th of July. The Cambridge Chronicle just put the masses on notice: "Engineers at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which controls the bridge, are scheduled to test the stability of the bridge’s sidewalks until Sunday. The testing comes after concerns were raised that the decrepit and aging bridge might not be able to hold the weight of the massive crowd of Independence Day spectators."

So it hasn't been shut down yet, but the Chronicle quotes rep Marty Walz as saying, "The sidewalks could eventually fall off the side of the bridge." Walz did not add that the sidewalks would take you down with them.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation hasn't been ignoring the problem. They've been working on it since last August, but that bridge is in dire need of an extreme makeover.

Image from Wikipedia.