And I'm pretty sure one of our engineers will be along shortly to disabuse you of that notion ;-)
If there was any cosmetics involved, it might have been some type of decorative cladding on the cable stays.
There was to be two spans of that 'bridge', one over the road and the other shorter half over the canal next door.
The supporting pylon was to sit in a grassy area between the two, with the cable supporting both halves.
Not cosmetic at all, but - very obviously - absolutely necessarily, structurally.
How about the bridge having what looks like a very substantial cover, with triangular supports holding it up? Could this have added significantly to the weight of the bridge?
I was just joking about the artsy diagonals. In going through this whole thread now - it seems they installed the flat slabs (walkway and roof) and were going to attach the suspension diagonals later. You can see in the photos the grid of bolts on the roof - all nice and neat - ready to attach the diagonals to. Perhaps if they had some temporary footings underneath mid-span that may have worked - but it seems pretty obvious to me that you don’t add the necessary supports until later.
I’ve seen photos of how they build suspension bridges - it is pretty amazing. The suspension cables following behind the pavement as it is built, with the roadway hanging out in mid air.