cross that bridge when one comes to it

• cross that bridge when one gets there
• cross that bridge when one gets to it

A metaphor for an idea being like a train of thought and the problem being like the bridge.

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cross that bridge when one comes to it (third-person singular simple present crosses that bridge when one comes to it, present participle crossing that bridge when one comes to it, simple past and past participle crossed that bridge when one came to it)

1. (idiomatic) To deal with a problem or situation only if and when it arises.

   It's possible we'll eventually have more books than available space for them, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

   • 2025 April 11, Kevin Roose, Casey Newton, “Big Tech’s Tariff Chaos + A.I. 2027 + Llama Drama”, in The New York Times (Hard Fork podcast)‎^[1], →ISSN:

     They might be willing to admit, OK, yeah, if you invent superintelligence, things will probably be crazy. But I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

• cross a bridge before one comes to it

• burn that bridge when one comes to it

• all in good time
• take something as it comes