It’s easy to live with disruption. Most folks do it every day. They drive to work with brakes that squeak slightly. They stop thinking about the ache in their back. They eventually learn to live without the bathroom fixture that has burned out and needs to be replaced.

We all learn to live with, or without, the annoying little things that disrupt life.

Such is the case with the East Bay Bike Path bridges. After so many years of disruption, most people have stopped noticing.

Today, it seems normal to zig and zag along makeshift bike routes while traveling between Barrington and Warren. It seems normal to drive past “temporary” construction barriers lining one of the most scenic vistas in this region, featuring the yacht club mooring field on one side, and Police Cove and the Barrington river on the other.

It’s easy to forget that the two East Bay Bike Path bridges near the border of Barrington and Warren have been closed for nearly five years. They have been, and the disruptions have been significant.

One of the great jewels of the East Bay — you would be challenged to find many bike paths more scenic, welcoming and beautiful than this — has been compromised for half a decade, and most have stopped noticing.

Thankfully, work has begun in earnest to rebuild those bridges, transforming long abandoned railroad spans into modern, safe and accessible bike and pedestrians assets. When they rise again and open to the public, it will be a celebratory occasion for everyone, but especially a small group who refused to let them vanish.

Lest we forget, the state’s original plan was to tear down the old railroad spans and not replace them. However, some town leaders, a handful of local General Assembly representatives, several outspoken citizens, and this paper, protested and demanded they be replaced. The state eventually agreed to fund their replacement, and the work is underway.

All who live and visit here should be thrilled to see those bridges return to this region. They will be safer and better than the temporary disruption of the past five years, and they will, again, enhance quality of life in the East Bay.