After being closed for a year the City of St. Joseph plans to reopen the Southwest Parkway over Garfield Avenue later this month.

City Engineer Brady McKinley said a grand re-opening ceremony is scheduled for May 23 for the replacement bridge.

“The council will have a ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. on the 23rd before their council meeting,” McKinley said. “Right on schedule.”

The original bridge was demolished in April of 2015, it was built in 1929.  McKinley said construction on the new bridge is mostly complete except for some minor details that are being touched up.

“They will be putting up the chain-link fence on the bridge along the pedestrian trail, starting the railings down the trail system on each end, there’s a lot of safety fencing and stuff that needs to go up on the back of the walls,” McKinley said. “Otherwise there’s just a few touch-ups.  Once they get complete we’ll be ready to open.”

As we previously reported, the new bridge also includes a 10-foot hike and bike trail that will connect to the city’s current trail system.

The bridge replacement was part of a CIP project that cost $2,846,117.98.