Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

There is now a wonderfully-designed walking bridge over the Missouri River that connects the cities of Omaha,NE, and Council Bluffs, IA. It opened a couple of days ago, and we decided to visit it and walk it both ways yesterday. It has twin towers with cables that hold up the structure of the walkway and is in the shape of a lazy S. It was named in honor of Bob Kerrey who had been a governor and senator for the State of Nebraska and got the federal part of the funding for this bridge started when he was a US Senator.

We called Kristy, and she rearranged her schedule and brought the grands to meet us on the Iowa side, and we began our walk to the Omaha side. Lots of people were walking the bridge and enjoying the views. The bridge connects public park areas on both sides of the river, and probably this completion will encourage more development on the river. Already there is a new baseball park scheduled on the Omaha side, which will be the new home of the College World Series.

As you walk along you can occasionally feel some vibrations and bridge movement. This reminded us of a hanging bridge in Vancouver, Canada, that we had crossed when visiting the city with good friend Phyllis. It, however, had a great deal of movement, and the trick was to walk it without hanging on, which HW2 managed.

Our bridge crossing was much fun, and we took many pictures which will get into this blog. At least this bridge goes somewhere and benefits the citizens of both cities, encouraging them to walk and get some exercise. When you visit Omaha or Council Bluffs, take time to walk the bridge. Happy travels.

2 comments:

K said...

pssst... Bob Kerrey. :-)

C and J said...

Thanks! His proof reader wasn't up that early this morning!XOXOXO