ST. MARYS, OH (WLIO) - After years of work, students in St. Marys no longer have to walk across a state route to get to and from school.
The City of St. Marys officially opened their new pedestrian bridge next to the high school and middle school today. Previously, students had to cross State Route 66 to get to school by foot. The bridge has been planned for many years and took around a year to complete construction. The bridge itself has lighting for the safety of pedestrians and is designed to protect motorists below.
"We do have to put safety fencing around it, as you see. It's on all three sides, that way nothing can be thrown off the bridge onto the traffic below," explained Craig Moller, St. Marys superintendent of community service and engineering.
The nearly 300-foot bridge's completion is thanks to the collaboration of many different organizations.
"We have a lot of people involved, we had obviously the school people involved, we have our local city officials with our mayor and our city council, the companies across the street, across the road here were kind enough to make room for us on the pathway on the other side," said Bud Fitzgerald, who lobbied the city for the bridge to be built.
"It took an effort to acquire the money, the two funding pots, it was safety and transportation and alternative funding, and from there it took us working together to develop a scope of work, design the plans, acquire the right of way, and construct the project," stated Matt Parrill, ODOT District 7 capital programs administrator.
After the bridge was officially opened, a group of students had the honor of being the first students to walk across the bridge.
