Opened in 2003, the popular downtown Dayton bridge rusted from the inside after years of being splashed by water from a fountain in the Mad River. It was closed in November 2018 due to safety concerns stemming from corrosion.
The bridge’s concrete decks and metal superstructure need to be removed and replaced, according to Five Rivers MetroParks.
The bridge initially was not expected to reopen until 2023 or 2024, but partnerships among the Miami Conservancy District, Citywide Development Corporation and FiveRivers MetroParks helped to speed up the project’s completion date.
“Depending on the river, we are shooting for early in 2021,” said Carrie Scarff, MetroParks chief of planning and projects.
A wet winter and spring would delay construction work, she said.
In February, Dayton City Commission approved an amendment to a river corridor partnership agreement with Five Rivers that gave the park system a 75-year lease on the land the bridge is on, allowing them to receive funding for the project.
Eighty percent of the funding is coming for an allocation from the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission and the rest from RiverScape partners.
The pedestrian bridge’s replacement is important because the Miami Valley and Dayton have the largest network of paved trails in the United States, Scarff said. The downtown is one of the major spokes in the system, with the Deeds Park Pedestrian Bridge over the Mad River also serving as connections to the Stillwater River and Great Miami River trails.
