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Photo by Jon Anderson
Vehicles drive on U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Monday, May 12, 2025, moving past the area where a pedestrian bridge will be installed across the highway. Bridge spans are expected to arrive on Thursday and Friday, May 15-16, and be installed across the road in June.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Construction equipment sits along U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Monday, May 12, 2025, awaiting delivery of the steel spans of a pedestrian bridge that are expected to arrive Thursday and Friday, May 15-16, 2025. The steel spans will not be stretched across the road until sometime in June.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Construction equipment sits along U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Monday, May 12, 2025, awaiting delivery of the steel spans of a pedestrian bridge that are expected to arrive Thursday and Friday, May 15-16, 2025. The steel spans will not be stretched across the road until sometime in June.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
A sign warns southbound motorists on U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, that there will be some traffic delays on Thursday and Friday, May 15-16, 2025, as pieces of a pedestrian bridge arrive and are unloaded beside the highway.
Vestavia Hills’ long-awaited pedestrian bridge to be installed over U.S. 31 near Wald Park is expected to arrive Thursday and Friday, May 15-16, but it won’t go up immediately, City Manager Jeff Downes told the City Council Monday night.
Instead, three sections of the bridge will sit on the side of the highway for four to five weeks while electrical and lighting components are installed, Downes said. The bridge components won’t be laid across the highway on the foundations on both sides of the road until sometime in June, he said.
He’s sure people will be wondering why the bridge sections will just be sitting there for so long, but it’s ow purpose because of the work that must be done before they are laid across the highway, he said.
There will, however, be some inconvenience to traffic Thursday and Friday, Downes said. The outside northbound lane on U.S. 31 will be be closed temporarily on both Thursday and Friday between about 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. while the bridge sections are unloaded, he said.
The 177-foot-long pedestrian bridge will cross over U.S. 31, connecting Wald Park to the Library in the Forest, and will feature an elevator and stairs. The project also includes about 300 feet of reconstructed sidewalks, an additional 280 feet of new sidewalk, and stairs to the library.
Sketch courtesy of city of Vestavia Hills
This is the design for the pedestrian bridge planned to be built over U.S. 31 in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, connecting Wald Park to the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest.
