Medina will have ribbon-cutting celebration on Thursday for new pedestrian bridge

Photo by Tom Rivers: Kevin Foster and his son Jack, owners of RJT Construction Services, were the first to walk across a new pedestrian bridge that was set into place on Oct. 15 over the Oak Orchard Creek in Medina.

MEDINA – Village of Medina officials and other local leaders will celebrate a new pedestrian bridge over Oak Orchard Creek with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

The bridge was set into place on Oct. 15. A crane from Trimble Services LLC in Fulton lifted the 33,000-pound steel bridge over the Oak Orchard. The bridge was manufactured by Bridge Brothers Inc. from Pickens, South Carolina.

The bridge is 100 feet long and 8 feet wide. It was delivered in Medina on a truck in two 50-foot sections and bolted together by RJT Construction Services, the general contractor on a project that also included 2,000 feet of sidewalks along Maple Ridge Road.

The new bridge and sidewalks have been several years in the waiting. The village in 2021 was awarded a $1,094,196 grant to construct the bridge and sidewalks as part of a multi-use path for pedestrians and bicycles. The funding was awarded by the state through a federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant.

That is covering 80 percent of the project. The remaining 20 percent is being paid locally from the village ($55,000), Town of Shelby ($130,000) and Orleans County ($97,500) using their share of funds from a now closed revolving loan fund through the Orleans Economic Development Agency.