By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A new and different bridge project is underway in St. Joseph.
It’s a bridge project that will connect Wyeth Hill and the Missouri River bluffs in north St. Joseph, expanding what is becoming an attractive hiking and biking trail.
St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter has high hopes the Highland Avenue pedestrian bridge project will become a real attraction for the city.
“Having seen some of the photos of the initial work that’s done, it just has that initial look of something that could become iconic in the future, just a really neat gateway,” Carter says.
The Highland Bridge project, according to the city, will construct a 530-foot elevated pedestrian bridge from Wyeth Hill to Riverbluff Trail. It will tie together the gravel trail system in north St. Joseph along the Missouri River.
“Well, it will connect over to the river bluff,” Carter says. “So, provide access to the River Bluff Trail Park. It’s all part of that system. That’s an exciting system in and of itself and this is just going to be one more element of it.”
Two spans north of Highland Avenue have been set. The third span goes up next week, weather permitting.
Beginning Monday, Highland will close to traffic between I-229 and MacArther Drive while construction continues on the project. Highland Avenue will be open on the weekends during construction; reopening to traffic at four o’clock on Friday afternoons until 7am on Mondays. Traffic that normally takes Highland will be diverted south on I-229 exiting onto 2nd and Felix Street, then north to Jules and west to MacArthur. Traffic leaving the riverfront will reverse the detour.
Carter says the Highland bridge could make a growing attraction to the city even bigger.
“I had a chance to go up there fairly early in the construction process and once you get up there you really grasp what it’s going to bring and the recreational amenity that it will provide.”
Carter says St. Joseph is beginning to have a reputation as a great city for hiking and biking, which is a growing tourism attraction.
The project could be done this spring.