Walking on air: Skybridge construction start pegged for August

HUNTSVILLE – The futuristic, stylish Skybridge that will promote pedestrian and bicycle traffic from the city’s west side to the east and downtown Huntsville suspended above Memorial Parkway is moving closer to becoming a reality.

Construction plans for the $62 million Pedestrian Access and Redevelopment Corridor project are in the final phases. Work is expected to begin in August and should take 30 months to complete.

“The multimodal pedestrian access bridge is only one piece of the larger project,” said Shane Davis, director of Economic and Urban Development for the city. “The project also addresses flood mitigation along Pinhook Creek and erosion near the Von Braun Center.

“It also allows the city to create new linear parks, landscaping and hardscapes.”

Flood concerns along Pinhook Creek spurred talks of such a project beginning in 2006, and it finally went into planning stages when the city received a $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The federal funding is aimed at reconnecting communities that were cut off by transportation infrastructure decades ago, leaving entire neighborhoods without direct access to opportunity, like schools, jobs, medical offices, and places of worship.

Davis said in addition to completing construction plans, the city needs final approval documents with the Federal Highway Administration.

“Our current schedule is to begin construction in late summer, an August timeline,” Davis said.

Nicknamed Skybridge, the PARC project is part of the Greenway Master Plan. The city intends to create more downtown greenspace and clean up the floodplain from the creek – currently an unsightly drainage ditch – with the cable suspended bridge the centerpiece of the project.

PARC goals:

• Provide an economic boost to low-income communities by furnishing access to health care and employment opportunities to about 5,000 people who live within a half mile of the project area
• Provide safe connectivity to the downtown, Mill Creek and Lowe Mill communities via greenways and the suspended pedestrian bridge, or Skybridge. These three areas are currently separated by two major state and federal highways: U.S. 231 and U.S. 431/AL53 (Memorial Parkway)
• Provide major enhancements along Pinhook Creek in the downtown district to reduce flooding and improve the flood plain along the creek; and, upon completion, the Pinhook Creek area will feature public recreation amenities while also connecting multiple neighborhoods
• Fill gaps in downtown bike connections in the city’s Bikeway Plan.

According to Davis, the city plans to use the project to connect north and south Huntsville, Five Points, Lowe Mill, John Hunt Park and even Research Park with alternate modes of mobility.