Those of a vintage will recall “A Bridge Too Far,” “The Bridge at Remagen,” and “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” Somewhat more recently, we have had “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Bridge of Spies,” “Girl on the Bridge,” and “The Lovers on the Bridge.”

Thank you, AI, for that list. I have personally seen a total of one of those films. David Lean’s epic war film set in World War II Burma was a favorite of my father’s when I was a young kid.

Though to live in Colorado at the moment is to witness another production, even as it seems soon to be aborted. The working title for this creation – part comedy, part fantasy, with a veneer of history – is “Jared’s Debacle Over Lincoln Street.”

For those not paying attention, perhaps due to an understandable preoccupation with whether the Rockies will eclipse baseball’s modern-era record for most losses in a season, our governor, in his waning months, has been peddling a pet project of constructing a pedestrian bridge connecting the Capitol grounds to Veterans Memorial Park a block away.

Look, I get that governors late in their tenure are drawn to legacy projects. In this case, with Jared Polis having spent millions to essentially buy the office, the callings of legacy and vanity converge.

That conjoining carries a hefty price tag of $28.5 million. Whether or not that is a meaningful sum in Polis’s holdings, it is real money in a constricted state budget with a special legislative session upcoming to further tighten the fiscal screws in response to “big, beautiful” federal cutbacks.

That cost estimate will inevitably inflate. Moreover, it does not account for ongoing maintenance and patrolling, not an insignificant consideration given the surroundings. Ponder the budget item solely for graffiti removal.

The roughly $1.5 million Polis’s office has spent so far on planning and design has come mainly from leftover pandemic recovery funds. It doesn’t take RFK, Jr. to demonstrate that there is no effective vaccine against politicians making self-serving, self-aggrandizing use of public dollars intended for some more beneficial purpose.

Here is today’s vocabulary lesson: Colorado’s 150th anniversary of statehood, coming next summer, is known as a quasquicentennial. This will take place in conjunction with the nation’s semi-quincentennial or 250th birthday. Polis has fashioned his bridge as a project to commemorate those milestones.

Our headstrong governor is not used to being told “no.” This is someone who spent a million dollars of his own money in pursuit of a seat on the State Board of Education, an office no one had previously regarded as any kind of launching pad.

Polis parlayed that into a decade-long stint in Congress. He then spent well over $20 million out of his wallet to become the state’s chief executive. By all accounts, he is now eyeing a presidential run, no matter that most observers see that as truly a bridge too far.

Few governors in the state’s history have enjoyed or wielded his kind of strong hand. The COVID emergency gave Polis unprecedented powers. His operating style, backed by his bank account, allowed him to play an assertive, confrontive hand in often bending the Democratic legislature to his will.

But now Polis finds himself in a quandary of his own making. Many have panned his bridge proposal. Historic Denver opposes it. The formidable Kyle Clark of 9News has made it a personal mission to torpedo the whole thing. A six-member legislative panel whose support Polis needs is said to be unanimously opposed. That would constitute a rare achievement in bipartisan consensus.

Rep. Tammy Story, a Conifer Democrat and chair of the Capital Development Committee, did not mince words. “This $29 million ‘art installation’ is financially irresponsible and completely tone-deaf.” She continued, “In the face of these (budget) realities, the Governor is championing a grandiose bridge that serves no substantial or necessary function.”

Suddenly, Polis is ironing his white flag as he looks for an off-ramp. The online survey he announced last week is that vehicle.

The survey is preceded by pages of cheerleading hype. One section is headlined, “Building an iconic walkway that celebrates Colorado’s past and future.” You get the drift.

Polis told 9News that the survey was engineered to preclude anyone from voting more than once from the same device. Wrong. I voted twice from my laptop, once from my iPad, and once on my phone. Never mind, I just cast a third vote on the laptop, so much for that precaution. The guarantee came from someone who had made his fortune in online commerce.

Still, despite the blatant slant of what precedes the survey, Polis must know the outcome. You win some and you lose some, unlike the Rockies, who just do the latter.

Take the loss, Governor, and exit the bridge. You still have marauding wolves to claim as a legacy.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann