A bicycle and pedestrian bridge spanning Elm Creek along South Washington Avenue will soon become reality.
Iola and Thrive Allen County were notified Friday the city will receive a $197,000 Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism grant for the bridge’s construction.
When tacked on with other grants already pledged, Thrive and the city have patched together more than $257,000.
“I cannot begin to tell you how excited we were to hear the news,” Damaris Kunkler program manager at Thrive, said. “This effort started years ago.”
The city will oversee construction and installation of a 150-foot truss bridge, projected to cost about $260,000.
“We’ve done all of the engineering,” Assistant City Administrator Corey Schinstock said. “We just need to firm up the final plans, and the paperwork will follow.”
It’s too soon to tell when construction will start, he said.
“We’ve still got some time to get everything lined up,” he said. “The letter we received wasn’t the grant itself. It was just a letter telling us the grant was being awarded.”
The original cost estimate — $257,000 — may change slightly, Schinstock acknowledged. “That estimate was from a year ago, but we have other grants lined up in case those numbers change. It shouldn’t be too out of line from those first projections.”
The bicycle and pedestrian bridge will connect Iola with the former Lehigh quarry site, now home to Elks Lake, the Lehigh Portland Trail complex and Elm Creek Park.
The steel truss bridge also would provide many of the 600 Gates Corporation employees easy access to either walk or bike to work.
KUNKLER noted the emotions surrounding Friday’s announcement.
Thrive’s initial efforts to attract funding for the pedestrian bridge were spearheaded by John Robertson, a grant writer who died in November 2015.
“This was successful because of that first grant he wrote,” Kunkler said. “There are still awesome reminders of his work.”
