Iowa and Nebraska ready to bridge the gap in Council Bluffs

A new link between Iowa and Nebraska is about to take another big step closer to reality. The Council Bluffs city council is expected to approve a transfer this week of one-and-a-half million dollars to the Omaha city council. It’s the first payment on a 23-million dollar pedestrian bridge that’s to be built between the two cities. The three thousand foot long bridge will span the Missouri River, suspended by cables from two massive pylons that’ll rise 230 feet in the air. Construction’s expected to start next year with the bridge being ready for foot traffic in 2004 or ’05. On the Nebraska side, the bridge will connect with the Lewis and Clark Landing north of downtown Omaha and on the Iowa side with a planned recreational lake and a biking and hiking trail near Council Bluffs’ Playland Park.