“Praise the bridge that took you”
George colman
Passing through Council Bluffs on business in 2007, I noticed an interesting structure being built across the Missouri River from Omaha. Curious as ever and having driven from Kansas City, I decided to take a break and get a little closer and check it out. I never miss the opportunity to go to the shore of one of the great rivers and gaze for a while, so I exited Interstate 29 at 9th Avenue in Council Bluffs and headed to “Friendship Park.”
I parked my vehicle in the park and walked to the bank of the Missouri River and from its bank, I contemplated the structure that was taking shape. There were two tall towers that were finished and large cranes positioned the bridge deck sections. I told myself that I would have to go back and cross this bridge when it was complete.
That opportunity came in 2009 as I was passing through Omaha on my way to a Kansas City Chiefs game with my son. We followed Interstate 480 into downtown Omaha and headed to Riverfront Drive behind the Qwest Center. We parked near the National Park Service – Lewis and Clark Trail Headquarters at 601 Riverfront Drive. From there, we hike well-groomed trails to the Bob Kerry Bridge, which gets bigger and bigger as it gets closer from the south.
It’s hard to imagine this place without some details of its construction, so here it goes. The Bridge was built between 2006 and 2008 and there was a great celebration on September 13, 2008 when the bridge was christened for lack of a better term. This unique looking bridge is not a straight deck bridge like most I have seen, but curves like a snake when crossing the river.
The bridge connects Omaha, Nebraska to Council Bluffs, Iowa and is 3,000 feet long from end to end as it spans the Missouri River. It is named after Nebraska Senator Bob Kerry, who obtained an allocation of $ 18 million for its construction. Once completed, it was the first pedestrian bridge to link two states.
The two bridge towers are 210 feet tall and have multiple slots near the top that have programmable lights in them that illuminate different colors depending on the occasion. When I was there, they were all light green. The bridge deck itself is 52 feet above the water and offers beautiful vantage points along its length from which you can look out over the river to the south and north and the downtown Omaha skyline. The bridge connects 150 miles of hiking and bike trails on both sides of the Missouri River.
The bridge deck is attached to the towers by multiple cables emanating from the top of the towers in a fan-like configuration. This type of bridge construction is called “Stay Cable – S-Bend”. The 15-foot-wide bridge deck snakes back and forth and is said to mimic the meander of the Missouri River.
There are interpretive plaques that tell of the Lewis and Clark expedition along the path from the park headquarters to the bridge. As I stood in the middle of the bridge deck, looking out over the water, I was somewhat mesmerized by the eddies, eddies, and waves of the chocolate-colored Missouri and the large chunks that are logs and trees that have been washed away from places unknown. upstream. I thought of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery as they went up this mighty unknown river and, looking at the shore, I wondered how they could have towed their barge from the shore at any time due to the tangled foliage and mud bars. .
The Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge is a great place to look out over the river and think of all who came before, especially the Indians and the Corps of Discovery. Just another interesting topic in the vast and wonderful land called America.