T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge Status Report 

Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc is currently building the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge in Richmond. The following is an excerpt from the most recent newsletter from the office of Dwight C. Jones who serves as the Mayor for the City of Richmond.

“I recently hosted a tour to view the progress of the construction of the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge (TTPMB). The project spans the James River, between the 9th Street (Manchester) Bridge and the Lee Bridge. The TTPMB is roughly aligned with 5th Street in the central business district across the river to the Manchester Climbing Wall. The project objective is to establish a universally accessible shared use pedestrian and bike (non-motorized) path connecting both sides of the river.

To achieve this, the existing concrete piers and steel structure, both dating from the earliest years of the twentieth century, have been retrofitted and supplemented to carry a new, continuous metal decking from the ‘Three Days in April’ Memorial at Brown’s Island to the Manchester Embankment. Once on the Manchester shore, an asphalt paved route will continue along the lower, upriver edge of the embankment toward the existing Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, at which point the paving shall parallel the tracks downriver, intersecting with the existing US Army Corps of Engineers and City of Richmond operated flood levee system.

The project will integrate and widen the existing levee landform slightly, continuing on downriver as an aggregate paved path, terminating beneath the Manchester Bridge. The pedestrian bridge is approximately 1600 LF in length, and the south bank landscape is approximately 3.25 acres, all located entirely within 8.3 acres of City of Richmond property.

We expect to achieve substantial completion with the bridge work in November, with the site work on schedule for substantial completion in early December.”

– Building The Best Richmond, the official newsletter from the office of Dwight C. Jones – Mayor, City of Richmond. See the full newsletter at October 21, 2016 Vol. 8 Issue 9