HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The City of Huntsville announced the next steps in its long-awaited $62 million pedestrian Skybridge project for 2025, more than three years of planning and approvals since it was first announced in 2022.
Overlooking Memorial Parkway and Governors Dr., the bridge is being built by the City of Huntsville. It should connect downtown to the Lowe Mill area by the time it's finished.
District 4 councilman Bill Kling said, "This will be a good artery for bringing people from downtown into West Huntsville and let them see all the great things that are taking place." He added that the project is possible for the city because of federal grants.
"It's all federal money paying for the Skybridge," Kling said. "As part of that, the city's going to be doing a large amount of landscaping, drainage work, walking trails in that area."
The City of Huntsville will hire contractors for the pedestrian bridge using the federal grant money, and work should start in the spring or summer of next year. But city planning manager Dennis Madsen said it's all part of a larger plan.
Madsen said, "They're going to start to assemble the bridge that goes over the Parkway and over Governors, and then they'll come back and do the linear park improvements in the creek."
He said a part of that plan is for the city to add infrastructure to beautify the area and make it less prone to flooding.
"Right now, you look out there and you see basically a giant concrete channel," Madsen said. "The vision is that you come back, you improve those, you widen them. So, they do a little bit more work in in terms of accommodating flooding. But you also add pedestrian pathways, plants, park areas, public art, things like that. So, it becomes a little bit more like a linear park."
Private companies like apartment complexes, storefront shops and Huntsville Hospital will also be investing at least $300 million in the area as part of the overall development. When all is said and done, the development will cost $60 million of grant money and $300 million of private investment.
Neither the Skybridge nor the infrastructure developments have a deadline, but Councilman Kling said it could take several years to complete.