New pedestrian bridge planned for downtown Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — It's going to get much easier for pedestrian's to cross one of Orange County's most heavily driven roads.
 
The city of Orlando plans to spend $8.3 million to complete the city's urban trails and build a pedestrian bridge over Colonial Drive near Interstate 4.
 
The bridge would connect two existing pedestrian and bike trails -- the urban trail north of downtown and Gertrude's Walk right through the heart of downtown.
 
"This is sort of our missing link between the two trails and then regionally it will connect to Cady Way and the Shingle Creek trails over to points north and south," said Myra Monreal with the city of Orlando.
 
City officials say it's all being paid for by the state.
 
They said the new trail and bridge will also help connect bikers and pedestrians to downtown SunRail stops.
 
Their hope is to get more people out of cars and help unclog streets.
 
"I think we need it from a safety perspective and we also need it to encourage people to kind of get of their car and take a bike or walk downtown, so it provides people options," said Monreal
 
Construction on the new trail and bridge should start in 2015 with a possible completion date in late 2016.

WFTV