Four years in the making, the city of Foley moved a step closer to building a pedestrian bridge over Alabama 59 in January 2015, as the roughly $1 million span went out for bid to construction contractors.
City Engineer Chad Christian said the bridge, an 108-foot span supported by two 39-foot elevator-equipped towers, will cross Highway 59 about a block north of U.S. 98, connecting pedestrians and cyclists to Heritage Park near Jessamine Avenue and Hotel Magnolia. The bridge’s western landing will sit on property the city purchased for $400,000 in early 2014 specifically to support the project.
The bridge is part of a much larger $4.7 million federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant awarded to Foley after the city applied for the competitive federal funding three years in a row. As a condition of the grant, Foley is responsible for covering roughly 25 percent of the cost locally, an estimated $1.6 million match, bringing the total project cost associated with the grant to about $6.3 million.
The pedestrian bridge is the centerpiece of a broader five-year infrastructure initiative known as Foley TRIPS, short for Transportation Regional Infrastructure Pedestrian System. The plan calls for adding 73 miles of new pedestrian and bicycle lanes and paths throughout the city over its life span. Once complete, the TIGER-funded portion of the project alone is expected to expand the city’s pedestrian path network by 15 miles, bringing the total to 50 miles, while increasing bike paths, bike lanes, shared-use paths and greenways from roughly 3 miles to 17.5 miles.
City officials have framed the pedestrian bridge and the broader TRIPS network as an effort to make Foley more walkable and bike-friendly as the city continues to grow, connecting neighborhoods, parks and commercial areas without requiring residents to cross busy roadways like Highway 59 at grade. The Highway 59 corridor through Foley has long been one of Baldwin County’s busiest commercial strips, particularly during the summer tourist season when traffic swells with visitors headed to the Gulf beaches.
With the bid solicitation set to open in early February 2015, city officials anticipated construction could begin later in the year, giving Foley residents and visitors a dedicated, elevated crossing over one of the city’s most heavily traveled roads within Heritage Park’s growing recreational footprint.