River District Pedestrian Bridge connects park with site of the future Saban Center

At the Dec. 5 ribbon-cutting for the River District Pedestrian Bridge, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox linked physical and figurative spans, underling the soaring walk from park-amphitheater recreation spots, across Jack Warner Parkway, to the educational-entertaining Saban Center future.

“Eighteen years ago, when I was sworn in, I promised to build a bridge to the future,” Maddox said. “Eighteen years later, that future includes nearly universal pre-K, dual-enrollment scholarships for every single 10th, 11th and 12th grader at our city schools, and a higher quality of life.

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"Today that bridge to the future includes this pedestrian bridge. It is going to provide a link between our downtown and our riverfront.”

Walking roughly north, the 172-foot pedestrian bridge connects downtown Tuscaloosa to Parker-Haun Park, and intends to serve as a reminder for traffic to slow on the parkway.

The park nestles under and around the paired spans of the Hugh R. Thomas bridge, with arrays of alternating red, green and blue LED lighting, green space, viewing areas for the Black Warrior River, plaza space, a pavilion and public restrooms. It sits at the western leg of the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk, adjacent to the recently renamed Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater, formerly Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.

Parker-Haun Park was completed in fall 2022, a project of the city's Elevate Tuscaloosa plan, funded by a one-cent sales tax. In early November, the park was named to honor the two Tuscaloosa families who own Parker Towing, one of the largest barge lines in the United States, in honor of their support for the Saban Center project.

The park and amphitheater location has long been a source of recreation for the Druid City. In 1918, Stallworth Lake was created by damming 4 acres of marshy land, with water supplied by warm springs. Boardwalks surrounded the perimeter, with a slide on the north end, and a small "island" in the middle. A western side pier extended to a boathouse. In 1930, admission was 15 cents for adults, 10 cents for children.

In part due to warm, sluggish water, and cooler pools opening at Tuscaloosa Country Club, and the 1933 Queen City Park, which created a pool and bathhouse in 1943, the lake stalled, and became used as landfill.

Little League baseball parks were built to the west. A mid-1970s land treatment project backed by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service improved the area, which became the site of a farmer's market, and was used as an extension of the late downtown CityFest celebrations. Those areas were plowed under and built over for the $14.9 million amphitheater, opened in April 2011.

Walking south, the pedestrian bridge connects Parker-Haun Park to the future site of the Saban Center, which will be constructed on the roughly 9 acres housing the former Tuscaloosa News building, corner of Jack Warner Parkway and Nick's Kids Avenue. Nick's Kids is the Saban family's non-profit foundation supporting students, teachers, families and education, and a major backer of the center. For more on Nick's Kids, see www.nickskidsfoundation.org.

The Saban Center is still in design phases, but construction will start in August 2024, with opening projected for late 2026. The Saban Center will serve as an interactive learning hub focused on science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM). In addition to hands-on activities and exhibits, the center also will house Tuscaloosa Children's Theatre and the Children's Hands-on Museum, which will be rebranded as IGNITE.

The hope is the Saban Center will not only augment educational efforts, but encourage students to see the value in STEAM-based careers. Long-term, that could help grow a skilled workforce for emerging higher-tech jobs within Tuscaloosa and the region. For more on the Saban Center, including renderings, see www.sabancenter.org.

City councilors Matthew Wilson and Kip Tyner also spoke at the pedestrian bridge dedication.

“This is going to be the busiest section of the entire City of Tuscaloosa,” Tyner said. “With the Saban Center, the amphitheater, the park, this is so needed."

Another pedestrian walkway may appear 3.5 miles east in the shadow of another river span, though years away. Federal funding came through in January to expand and improve 62-year-old Woolsey Finnell Bridge, where Highway 82/McFarland Boulevard crosses the Black Warrior.

As part of a $1.7 trillion package approved in December 2022, $100 million has been earmarked to expand the four-lane girder bridge into a six-lane structure, possibly with a pedestrian walkway to link expanding north and south ends of the Riverwalk. That's in earliest stages of study and pre-design, though, and no construction dates have been set.

Inspiration for Tuscaloosa walkways came in part from Chattanooga's picturesque Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge, adapted from an 1890 span of the Tennessee River. In study for Elevate Tuscaloosa, city delegations have undergone benchmarking trips to successfully renovated Southern downtowns in places such as Greensboro, S.C., Asheville, N.C., and Chattanooga.

"A link from the northern to the southern Riverwalk would add so much to our quality of life, to our city's walkability, bike-ability," Maddox said in January, when the $100 million funding was announced. "We've been looking for a chance to reach across the river."

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa opens new River District Pedestrian Bridge downtown