Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge

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The Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge is a 3,000 foot footbridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska scheduled to be completed in November 2008.

In May 2006 a final cable-stayed bridge design by Kansas City, Missouri architect firm HNTB was selected for the bridge which is budgeted to cost $22 million and include two 200-foot-tall towers and be 52 feet above the river. Main funding for the bridge is a $19 million federal grant that was awarded in 2000 at the behest of former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerry with state and private funds picking up the rest.

Interest in a landmark bridge across the Missouri River has arisen ever since Omaha and Council Bluffs began replacing their older crossings with girder bridges which do not have towers (most notably the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge).

The bridge was redesigned after 2004 when the lowest bid for the project was $44 million.

The bridge is scheduled to be north of the I-480 girder bridge and would connect Riverfront Place/Lewis and Clark Landing in Omaha to One Renaissance Center in the former Playland Park in Council Bluffs.

Groundbreaking for construction of the bridge occurred on October 26, 2006.^[1]