First phase of Skybridge project set to begin in 2025
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The much-discussed flood mitigation project in Huntsville — referred to as the “Skybridge” project — is set to enter its first phase of construction in the spring or summer of 2025.
City officials said there construction will happen in multiple phases. Here’s more:
The latest news on the Skybridge project
According to Kathy Martin, Huntsville’s Director of Engineering, said construction on the project will occur in four phases, with the first two phases will take place between 2025 and 2027.
The first phase involves utility relocation and channel widening. Currently, the City anticipates this phase to begin spring/summer 2025. The beginning of this phase has been dependent on right-of-way acquisition and U.S. Army Core of Engineers permitting.
The second phase of the project will be the elevated bridge in Fall 2025. However, the majority of the bridge construction effort will be done off-site. The installation of the bridge will not occur until early/mid 2027.
Skybridge details
The $62 million project is a multimodal pedestrian access and redevelopment corridor, or PARC, which will include a pedestrian walkway across Memorial Parkway connecting Lowe Mill to Downtown Huntsville.
It was made possible by a $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, but the idea has been in the works for many years.
The project was originally put on the table about 20 years ago as a flood mitigation effort to reduce the floodplains along Pinhook Creek through the downtown core as well as address pedestrian access. The project was placed on hold until 2016 when officials resurrected the plan.
The benefits of the project include:
- It identifies vital greenway connections that make up the Greenway Master Plan.
- It fills gaps in downtown bike connections included in the City’s Bikeway Plan.
- It will reduce the floodplains along Pinhook Creek through the downtown core as well as address pedestrian access.
- PARC would also provide an economic boost to low-income communities by connecting nearly 5,000 people living within a half-mile radius to vital health care and jobs. The City estimates about 22% of those residents live in public housing and more than 26% do not have access to a vehicle.
- The project will replace the old wooden railroad bridge built in 1939 with a concrete Class I bridge.
- PARC would also allow the City to create new linear parks, landscaping and hardscapes. New retaining walls would also stop erosion near the Von Braun Center.
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