As an engineer how to solve this problem?

in a certain small town , there are onloy two ways to cross the river which runs through the middle of the town. one way is to walk across the railway bridge. this is very dangerous, since there is no walkway for pedestrians. the other way is to take a small boat , which is very slow because of the current. however, many people need to cross this river each day.what are the solutions to solve this problem?