After weeks of work, Gainesville’s pedestrian bridge is about to take shape across Jesse Jewell Parkway. But it’s going to require some road closures.

The road, a main thoroughfare through Gainesville, will be shut down and drivers detoured around the construction area on Tuesday night and the night of June 27, according to city spokeswoman Catiel Felts.

Drivers coming northeast on Jesse Jewell will be routed down Bradford Street to College Avenue to E.E. Butler Parkway, and vice versa for those coming southwest. Police cars and signs will guide drivers through the area.

On Thursday night, the outside westbound lane will be closed. There will be no detour, but a police car will be stationed at Jesse Jewell and E.E. Butler to make sure traffic is moving smoothly.

The contractor hires the patrol cars to increase visibility of the detour, project manager Barclay Fouts said.
Tuesday night the closure shouldn’t last long, Fouts said.

“We’ll close the road down at 10 p.m. to walk a 200-ton crane across,” he said. “That should only take a couple hours.”

Thursday, workers will be setting beams on the Georgia Mountains Center side of the road, and that will probable take several hours, Fouts said.

On June 27, the main beam will be set across Jesse Jewel.

“When everybody comes back into town for work on Tuesday morning on the 28th you’ll really see a visual difference in the work,” Fouts said.

Work will also take place June 29 as beams are set on the City View side, but that work will be done from Bradford Street and won’t require any traffic shutdowns.

Work up to this point has been completed during the day, but Fouts said night work will minimize traffic issues.

“We’re setting these beams, waiting until 10 o’clock at night, to allow the traffic to die
down to where there’ll be just a low volume of traffic and less interruption for us to close down the road to get these beams set,” he said. “And once that’s done we really won’t affect the traffic flow for the rest of the work that we’ll be doing.”

The project is on schedule for a September completion, Fouts said.

Projected to be 450 feet long and 10 feet wide, the bridge will span the four-lane road and feature a concrete base, metal handrails and fencing along the sides. It will look similar to the design on the sign at the site.

City View, a planned high-rise hotel or office building featured as the keystone of redeveloping midtown, is paying for the bridge. The city will pay up to $3 million for the bridge once a certificate of occupancy is issued for the building that will sit in place of the old public safety building.