October 23, 2006 – Construction workers and a crane will arrive this week along the Missouri River to begin building the pedestrian bridge linking Omaha and Council Bluffs.

"We are ready to start work," said Omaha Parks Director Steve Scarpello.

The work will ceremonially begin Thursday at 9 a.m. when Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey, Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan and other dignitaries gather for the official groundbreaking. The ceremony will take place on the Nebraska side of the river between the National Parks Service building and Riverfront Place.

Construction of the $22 million bridge is expected to take two years and be completed in the fall of 2008.

The project won final approval this spring but has been awaiting design and environmental approvals from various federal agencies.

The bridge, designed by HNTB Corp. of Kansas City, Mo., will stretch 3,000 feet from the Nebraska bank to the levee on the Bluffs side. The span will be suspended from cables attached to twin 200-foot towers. It will be the first bridge of its kind in the region.

One dignitary who won't be able to attend is former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who won $19 million in federal funds for the project.

Scarpello said Kerrey, president of the New School University in New York, is unable to attend the groundbreaking.