A bridge makes another person’s side of the river part of an ordinary route.

Before a crossing exists, the far bank is a destination requiring a reason. Afterwards it becomes somewhere you pass through on the way to something else, and that shift does more than save time. People you would have had to decide to visit turn into people you run into. Ordinary routes are how strangers become neighbours, and much of that is settled by where the structures were placed rather than by anyone’s goodwill.

Look at who is currently a special trip for you. See whether a different walk home or a different shop would put them on the way.