The Queen Emma Bridge

Two bridges connect Punda to Otrobanda. For cars, there’s the towering Queen Juliana Bridge, the tallest in the Caribbean, rising 56 meters above the Saint Anna Bay. And for pedestrians, there’s the Queen Emma Bridge, with a total height of about zero meters. The Queen Emma, you see, is a floating bridge.

On first learning about Willemstad’s floating bridge, my first thought was, “Well, that makes sense. There’s no reason to force traffic up and over the water. I wonder why more bridges don’...