Cobb County now talking double-decker bridge to Braves stadium, cost goes back up again

When last we checked in on the bridge across a highway that Cobb County is going to have to build to get people to the new Atlanta Braves stadium from a neighboring parking lot, county officials were downsizing it to a pedestrian-only bridge to save money. As I remarked at the time:

The Marietta Daily Journal reports that the bridge will now be pedestrian-only, and so significantly cheaper. But also presumably much slower to cross, unless the Braves will be holding an annual Rollerblade Giveaway Night.

Apparently nobody liked my rollerblade idea, because Cobb County is now talking about a double-decker bridge that would carry pedestrians on one level, and shuttle buses on another. Which would be significantly more expensive again — the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Dan Klepal notes that a similar bridge elsewhere ended up costing more than $30 million, though the details are now hidden behind the AJC’s paywall.

[UPDATE: Klepal has now provided the paywall-hidden details, and it was actually a 290-foot enclosed pedestrian bridge that $32 million, including design and engineering costs. The new Braves bridge would be 1,100 feet long, be double-decked, and would have to support not just pedestrians but vehicles, likely making it a bit more expensive, yeah.]

That whole approving a stadium in an undeveloped area before figuring out how much it would cost to build transportation infrastructure thing is just working out so well, isn’t it?

Other Recent Posts:

Share this post:

8 comments on “Cobb County now talking double-decker bridge to Braves stadium, cost goes back up again

  1. “That whole approving a stadium in an undeveloped area before figuring out how much it would cost to build transportation infrastructure thing is just working out so well, isn’t it?”

    It actually is working out well for those who arranged the whole thing. Much easier to push a deal through when you don’t have to worry about those pesky numbers. “Well, we can’t not pay for it now, it’s a done deal.”

  2. Dan Klepal,

    Thanks for sharing the length of the proposed bridge.

    Regarding
    “[UPDATE: Klepal has now provided the paywall-hidden details, and it was actually a 290-foot enclosed pedestrian bridge that $32 million, including design and engineering costs. The new Braves bridge would be 1,100 feet long, be double-decked, and would have to support not just pedestrians but vehicles, likely making it a bit more expensive, yeah.]”
    I would have done the 290 foot bridge for $31.9 million, no questions asked.

  3. And Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee apparently had the nerve to state at a recent town hall meeting that this bridge project would be needed whether the stadium project was built or not, thereby justifying the possibility of receiving federal transportation funds and using additional local money. That is a flat out lie. There is no reason for pedestrians and trams to cross I-285 from Galleria to the area of the new stadium except to attend a Braves game. And the retail tenants at Galleria and Cumberland Mall aren’t too thrilled at the prospect of losing their available parking on game days, and the resulting loss of business (which also means lost sales tax revenue). Wait – I think that’s called “substitution”, right?

  4. I’d go for triple-decker, myself. Preferably with a fast lane for pro sports team owners only!

  5. When this is all said and done its going to be the worst secret deal ever and Atlanta will be laughing and 20 yrs from now the Braves will move back.

Comments are closed.