(New Buffalo, MI) - It looks like a pedestrian bridge is going to go up near the lakefront in New Buffalo, as the city has received a $1 million state grant to help make it happen.

 

New Buffalo Mayor John Humphrey said the vision is to have a pedestrian bridge next to the Whittaker Street bridge, which is for motorists.

 

He said the pedestrian bridge is in response to pedestrians, during heavily attended summer weekends and special events, spilling over onto the travel portion of the Whittaker St. bridge.

 

The Whittaker St. bridge has sidewalks on both sides, but that hasn’t stopped large crowds from forming sometimes in the path of oncoming motorists.

 

“The pedestrian bridge has always been one of the more popular items from the public’s end for the improvements down at the lakefront. I’m glad to see that now we have the state helping us to make that a reality,” he said.

 

A prior estimate for building a pedestrian bridge over the Galien River, based on previous specifications, was about $2 million. Humphrey said a new estimate, calculated on specifications that could be adjusted, will need to be done to get a current idea of cost.

 

“Hopefully, it’s less,” he said.

 

Because it’s a matching grant, the city will have to come up with the remainder of the funds to pay for a pedestrian bridge.

 

However, Humphrey believes there are enough outside revenue sources like the Pokagon Fund to keep whatever the city has contributed from being a burden on taxpayers.