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I think a lot of this has to do with the effective range of Smaug's fire - how close would he have to be to his target for his flame to be effective? I would suppose that he would have to be fairly close (relatively speaking), which would account for his desire to use the bridge for an assault. Flying close enough to the buildings to ignite them but remaining far enough away from the water to avoid contact with it (& resulting disaster), while flying fast enough to avoid the arrow storm form the defenders would be a horrendously difficult calculation. Then factor in the inevitable fatigue of an extended flight carrying a significant weight of armour in the form of all those jewels.... Smaug is not looking to take risks. He is looking for an easy but devastating victory. His tactics are quite clear - land at the bridge, move slowly through Lake Town burning as he goes & then take off & fly home - at least as I read it.
Look, destroying the bridges is a desperate act, but its a better move than not destroying them. It removes the option of a ground attack & puts him in a slightly less advantageous position. Your question is about as logical as asking why if your enemy is about to attack you with tanks & planes you'd bother taking out the tanks if you could? Well, if you did you could stop worrying about him attacking you with tanks & focus your attention on the air assault. What they're doing is limiting his options for an assault & using the lake as a more effective deterent. What you're forgetting, or ignoring, is that they are in desperate staits & anything which gives them the slightest advantage is going to be snatched up with both hands.
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