Mattern & Craig provided bridge design services for construction of a new pedestrian bridge crossing Barnhardt Creek along the Roanoke River Greenway.  Our services consisted of trail design, site design, permitting and bridge design for a 120’ long pre-engineered steel truss pedestrian bridge. Structure utilized cast-in-place abutments founded on micropiles.

The bridge is located at Barnhardt Creek near where the small stream flows into the Roanoke River near Cook Drive.  This 12-foot-wide bridge allows a person parked at the Cook Drive parking area to walk, run or bike a 4-mile loop on the greenway path.

In 2012, the Greenway Commission organized a “Bridge the Gap” campaign to secure funding for the “Gap” between Rotary Park in Salem and Bridge Street in Roanoke.  Since then, the City of Roanoke and the City of Salem have built 1.5 miles and .6 miles of greenway, respectively, in this area, but they were separated by Barnhardt Creek. This new bridge provides greenway users with over two uninterrupted miles of trail and links the two municipalities.

Construction began on the 12-foot-wide bridge in January, and on Tuesday, July 20^th the Roanoke Parks and Recreation, in conjunction with the Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission and the City of Salem, hosted a ribbon-cutting for the new Barnhardt Creek Bridge on Roanoke River Greenway.