New Bohemia pedestrian/bike friendly bridge wins support from C.R. council committee

CEDAR RAPIDS - Backers of a proposed pedestrian/bike bridge across the Cedar River from New Bohemia to the Cedar River Trail at Mount Trashmore won strong support Wednesday from the City Council's Development Committee.

The bridge proposal comes from the Southside Investment Board, and it calls for the construction of a new bridge deck on the pillars of an abandoned, CRANDIC-owned rail bridge.

Much of the rail bridge's existing deck was knocked into the Cedar River by the flood of 2008, and what is left of the rail deck would be removed to make way for the lighter pedestrian/bike deck.

Steve Sovern, who is on the Investment Board's bridge committee, told the council committee on Wednesday that the construction of the new bridge using the rail bridge pillars would cost about $2 million, including work on the approaches to the bridge. He estimated that the project would include a signature design that would make it an attraction and add, perhaps, $800,000 to the cost.

Sovern called the damaged former rail bridge, which had been out of use for more than 30 years, a 'sleeping giant.” He said its transformation will enhance the city's trail system and give pedestrians and bicyclists a new option to get to and from the popular Cedar River Trail and the city's popular New Bohemia entertainment district.

After the Wednesday meeting, Sovern said that Alliant Energy, which owns the CRANDIC Railway Co., has said it will give the bridge to the city as part of the trails project.

He said much of the support for the $3 million project will come from private donations, and he told the committee that there has been 'some excitement” on that front.

Chad Lambi, manager of track and structures for CRANDIC, is teaming up with Sovern on the Southside Investment Board bridge committee, and Lambi has completed a cost estimate for the project at no charge. The estimate found that it would cost more to build a new bridge than to use the pillars of the existing bridge, Sovern told the committee.

Council member Monica Vernon, chairwoman of the council Committee, said the city has contemplated a pedestrian/bike bridge across the river in or near downtown for a number of years, and she said this bridge proposal fits into the city's vision for its trails program.

She asked Jennifer Pratt, the city's development director, to consider assigning the project to a specific staff person and to work on it 'in the short term rather than the long term.”

Council member Pat Shey said he thought it important that the proposed bridge not be referred to as a bike trail because he said he envisioned that pedestrians would use it more the bicyclists.

Sovern and Vernon agreed, and they said the proposed new bridge creates a loop so walkers can start out in Czech Village, walk on the Cedar River Trail to the Mount Trashmore landfill site, cross the river to New Bohemia and cross back across the river to Czech Village at the Bridge of the Lions on 16th Avenue. Sovern said it would be about a three-quarter-mile loop, perfect for walkers and for bicyclists, too, who wanted a different back and forth route into the center of the city.

Vernon said her most recent ride on the trail had her encounter walkers, a wheelchair, someone with a walker, baby strollers and in-line skaters. It is more than a bike trail, she said.

Council member Susie Weinacht, who sits on the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency board, said the agency is now working on its own plan to convert the closed Mount Trashmore site into something of a recreational venue with trails up the hill and around it.

Vernon said the agency, the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Agency and the city may be sources of funding for the project in addition to private donations and outside grants.

Shey asked about the prospects of a pedestrian/bike bridge being damaged in a flood like the 2008 one since the rail bridge was damaged then.

After the meeting, Sovern said he didn't see that as a problem. The new bridge may need to be elevated a bit, but he didn't think that would add much to the cost, he said.

The Southside Investment Board is comprised of property owners, businesses and interested parties in New Bohemia.