The beautiful 1916 Harahan bridge, which after some repairs to its abandoned wagonway spans, will serve not just the UP Railroad, but local pedestrians and bicyclists too. The Hanrahan Bridge, the second the cross the Missisippi River here, will have its long-disused roadways resurfaced and reopened to pedestrians and bicyclists in a few years, after restoration work is completed. It will still carry rail traffic -- the pedestrians and bicyclists will cross along the north side of the bridge, away from the tracks.
From the Memphis Daily News: (
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"Harahan Boardwalk Construction Begins
By Bill Dries
VOL. 129 | NO. 219 | Monday, November 10, 2014
It was about four years ago that a group of Memphians flew to Omaha, Neb., to talk with Union Pacific railroad executives about building a bicycle and pedestrian boardwalk on the northern side of the Harahan Railroad Bridge across the Mississippi River.
Construction on the $17.5 million boardwalk formally begins Monday, Nov. 10, with a ceremony at the Church of the River, whose property borders the path to the boardwalk to come in the spring or summer of 2016.
In the three years and 10 months since the group led by Memphis commodities broker Charles McVean went to Omaha to begin the discussions, the project has evolved.
It became part of the Main Street to Main Street Connector project at the suggestion of U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen when it appeared the city would not secure two separate federal transportation grants – one for Main Street improvements and one for the bridge.
The Harahan project, which since has been rebranded Big River Crossing, became the centerpiece linking a plan for revitalizing Main Street Memphis and Broadway Street in West Memphis, which is that city’s version of Main Street.
The entire Main to Main project – including the Main Street work from Uptown to the South Main Historic Arts District, which began earlier this year – totals $43 million, with $15 million from the federal grant and the rest from private donations and other local and state grants as well as federal grants for specific public purposes.
The first designs of the boardwalk to meet high standards set by Union Pacific, which owns the rail bridge that opened in 1916, came in high in terms of bids in late 2013, putting the project in doubt.
Without the necessary private funding, Main to Main project director Paul Morris, who manages the overall project through the Downtown Memphis Commission for the city, said no work would start on the bridge until that funding was secured. And securing the private donations depended on donors knowing how much had already been raised and how much more was needed.
The bridge was rebid under new terms and plans agreed to by Union Pacific, and it came in $4 million lower at $17.5 million in August.
The $2.5 million gap was bridged and construction documents were readied for Monday’s event.
The event is more than ceremonial. It starts the clock on a rigorous schedule by federal officials that dictates when projects are to be completed.
Meanwhile, the second bids on the West Memphis end of the boardwalk this summer came in at $2.8 million, about $1 million lower than the first set of bids.
West Memphis and Crittenden County leaders are aware that they have to build more awareness of what is available for cyclists on their end of the boardwalk.
That includes selling merchants on Broadway on what the bicyclists will mean, as well as developing greenways and bike lanes.
They have also worked with University of Memphis students to develop plans for a trail system in the Crittenden County flood plain that is the western bank of the Mississippi across from Memphis, to the levee where West Memphis begins.
The plans for that area, which includes the site of the Hopefield settlement, Dacus Lake, unique views of the Memphis skyline and Native-American trails that predate Memphis or West Memphis, are to use it as an eco-park on what is now agricultural land that floods a month or two every year.
Earlier this year, the St. Francis Levee Board agreed to talks with the Harahan developers and supporters about developing trails on the levees the board maintains and controls. The result could be a network of some 60 miles of trails on the Arkansas side to Marianna."