Mayor Dwight C. Jones and other city officials officially opened Richmond’s new pedestrian bridge linking Brown’s Island and Manchester.
Located at the site of a early 20th century dam, the path for pedestrians and cyclists partially uses existing concrete piers and steel infrastructure in the river. The wheelchair-accessible bridge over the James River is proposed to be open 24 hours a day, officials said. It spans about one-third of a mile and includes the “Three Days in April” overlook on Brown’s Island. Tammy Hawley, the mayor’s press secretary, said it cost the city $11.3 million to build the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge.
“This is the first real complete project of the overall Riverfront Plan,” Hawley said.
Hawley described the Potterfield bridge as part of Jones’ legacy. It was considered a top priority in the city’s Riverfront Plan, which includes several projects that would cost millions of dollars to complete.
The bridge is named for the late T. Tyler Potterfield, a senior planner in the Richmond Department of Planning and Development Review who was the project manager for the bridge. According to the ordinance that named the bridge in his memory, Potterfield first began work in Richmond in 1991. He went on to serve as secretary to the Commission of Architectural Review, secretary to the Urban Design Committee and contributed to the development and adoption of the Riverfront Plan. “He had a great love for the city and a lot of its history and architecture,” Hawley said. “It just seemed like a natural memorial to him.”