Mercer University Drive pedestrian bridge hailed as new gateway to Macon

A few small steps for Mercer University students will make a giant leap forward for Macon-Bibb County.

A new pedestrian bridge linking the Lofts at Mercer Landing to campus will soon be a dazzling gateway into downtown Macon.

"It's a good looking bridge," Macon-Bibb SPLOST manager Clay Murphey said Wednesday as crews prepared to hoist the 94,000-pound structure onto its pylons on the sides of Mercer University Drive.

Not only is it aesthetically beautiful, in the coming weeks an intricate lighting system will go in, Murphey said.

Lights will be shining upward, making every evening rain shower a brilliant display of sheets of water.

The university will be able to color the bridge orange or patriotic hues of red, white and blue for special occasions.

"There are like three million color combinations," Murphey said. "They can project images, like President Underwood's image on the bridge. It's all computer-controlled."

Just erecting the structure was quite a show.

Dozens of people perched on the roof of the lofts as others watched from the university's football stadium and nearby parking lots. Lifting and turning the bridge was the easy part. Inching it precisely onto bolts took the better part of the hour as workmen with ropes and others in elevated buckets nudged it into place.

Mercer University President Bill Underwood sipped coffee and watched from the large windows a couple of floors up from the sidewalk.

"There was no margin of error for setting that thing in place, so I was nervous until I saw the thing hit those bolts just right. It was very exciting," Underwood said before an inaugural stroll with Sierra Development's Jim Daws and Piedmont Construction's Scott Thompson.

Daws called the bridge the "crowning jewel" of his projects on campus that began years ago with a couple of parking lots and have continued with major business and loft developments throughout the College Hill Corridor.

Four trucks delivered the bridge in pieces, and it was put together in recent weeks.

Mercer University Drive is expected to be open again on Friday, but intermittent lane closures can be expected over the next several weeks as workers pour concrete and handle finishing touches.

Bricks on the posts will mirror the look of campus.

"When Mercer finishes the entrance, it will dramatically change what happens on this side of town," Murphey said. "It's going to be amazing."

A contingent of Macon-Bibb County commissioners watched from a nearby parking lot.

Commissioner Elaine Lucas said: "I think it's going to change what progress looks like in this community for years to come."

Lucas is looking forward to branching out with more pedestrian safety measures in other parts of the community, as is Commissioner Al Tillman.

"This is just a testament that if it can happen in this area, it can happen on Pio Nono Avenue, it can happen on Eisenhower," Tillman said. "This is everybody's community and this is everybody's pedestrian bridge."

Work has already begun to connect Little Richard Penniman Boulevard, just down from the bridge, to the Second Street Corridor.

The bridge will bear a sign stating "Welcome to Mercer and the gateway to downtown Macon," Underwood said.

"This will signal to visitors to our city that this is a city on the move with high aspirations," Underwood said. "It shows what can be done when the city and the university and private developers work hand-in-hand to make great things happen."

To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303 and follow her on Twitter@liz_lines.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Mercer University Drive pedestrian bridge hailed as new gateway to Macon ."