Huntsville City Council President speaks out against sky bridge plans

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Should the city of Huntsville spend tens of millions of dollars to add a sky bridge to connect Lowe Mill to Downtown?

The topic has been discussed and talked about for several years. Huntsville City Council President John Meredith shared his opinion with WAFF.

Just two weeks ago, some city leaders applied for a $25 million grant, that would pay for about 40 percent of the sky bridge.

The other 60 percent or close to $40 million would come from city tax dollars. City Council President John Meredith says that’s too much money.

”I have to admit, I’m starting to become trepidatious about moving forward with the sky bridge. It obviously has a pretty big price tag on it,” said Meredith.

The 1,400-foot cable pedestrian sky bridge would connect Lowe Mill to Downtown Huntsville.

This bridge was first discussed in 2016 and some people at Big Spring Park are excited and think it’s what the state’s biggest city needs.

“I think the sky bridge would really benefit Huntsville in a lot of ways, and I think anything Huntsville can do to become a more pedestrian friendly city, is going to help in the long run as it grows, and parking becomes more difficult,” said Casey St. John.

Meredith says the sky bridge would be nice, but there are other needs the city should address first.

“Frankly I have a lot of constituents in certain areas that have drainage issues, stormwater issues, of course, roads, and I think the use of that funding could be better served to help with those uses rather than the sky bridge,” said Meredith.

City Council member Bill Kling agrees with Meredith and says the bridge costs too much. While Frances Akridge with the city council and Mayor Tommy Battle support the sky bridge.

Meredith expects the sky bridge debate to be discussed during the next budget meeting. He also says the bridge may cost more than expected if the supply chain issues aren’t resolved soon.

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