Bad River Pedestrian Bridge
Home » Attractions »
Fort Pierre Bad River Pedestrian Bridge Lighting Project reached goal and was lit for the first time December 4, 2020
The Bad River Pedestrian Bridge connects Fischers Lilly Park, Expo Center, and the Fairgrounds with Downtown Fort Pierre. It is a beautifully constructed iron framework bridge that creates an archway over Bad River. Visitors in town for events across the river frequently park in the City Parking lot and walk across the bridge.
The three truss, pony truss bridge was built in early 2000 and was a project ramrodded by then Mayor Sam Tidball. L&M Marine and Morris Inc. worked together to place the bridge over the Bad River in 2003. At a December 2019 Bridge Lighting Committee meeting, Mayor Hanson said, “It is a pretty little bridge and we would like any lighting to be aesthetically pleasing to highlight the design of the bridge.” Committee members agreed that the bridge was hard to see at night and lighting it would certainly make it show up.
Bad River Pedestrian Bridge is owned by the City of Fort Pierre. Fort Pierre Development Corporation’s FPDC Downtown Development Committee birthed the idea of lighting the footbridge in one of their 2019 summer meetings. FPDC formed a bridge lighting committee and the committee held their first meeting September 19, 2019.
Some of the questions that came up right away were: Cost of the project? What type of lighting to use? Where to locate the computer and control cabinet? Should the pathway be lit leading up to the bridge on both sides? What color options to use? What bridge features should be highlighted? Would maintenance be an issue?
A project cost limit for the lighting project was set for $50-$75,000. It was determined that programmable, long lasting LED linear lighting with ease of maintenance would be the best option. Two engineering companies were asked to bid on the project and Malone Engineering of Rapid City won with the low bid.
Steve Malone met with the Bridge Lighting Committee in December 2019 to share his ideas and answer questions. Malone suggested, “If color changing is done for special occasions, interim white lighting could be used to offset the use of color.” He said, “The Bridge could become a community billboard so that when people saw it lit up with color, they would know something was going on in Fort Pierre.”
Through subsequent meetings in January and February, Malone Engineering met with the Committee to provide different lighting options and costs. He was to provide the final lighting design and drawings so a bid request could be sent out to electricians licensed to do business in Fort Pierre. The original intent was to have the lighting done by Memorial Day or 4th of July but the pandemic slowed things down.
The Bridge Lighting Committee (BLC) met again June 9, 2020 and devised a plan for fundraising for the project and a call for electrician bids was sent out by the City of Fort Pierre, who owns the bridge, on June 20 with a July 2nd closing date. The BLC met again July 30 and selected Will Clark Electric to be the electrician for the project. Work began around August 20 with a 60 day projected completion date or sooner.
When the lighting project is completed, Bad River Pedestrian Bridge will be a night time attraction that can be seen from the highway bridge, from Fischer Lilly Park, Downtown, the Missouri River and Pierre. It will be safer at night for pedestrians and it will carry out the goals of Future Fort Pierre “to enhance and beautify downtown.” It will also carry out the “Healthy Hometown” vison for Fort Pierre “to provide more walking, biking and physical activity, places for social gathering, creating a vibrant downtown and beautiful gateway into the community.”
Over $75,000 was donated by 60 donors/sponsors whose names were engraved on a brass plaque on the south side of the river near the bridge. Avera donated the funds for the landscaping on both ends of the bridge. The pedestrian bridge was lit for the first time at Fort Pierre’s Annual Christmas Tree Lighting December 4, 2020, a testimony to perseverence during pandemic lockdowns.
