FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) --- There are competing interests in the efforts to work out plans for a new bridge leading into downtown Fort Wayne.
It’s about balancing the need for good traffic flow and protection of a beautiful park setting.
Jeff Neumeyer: " We know that the Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge crossing the St. Mary's River will be replaced, but the construction process itself presents some complicated challenges.
The Board of Public Works has approved the hiring of DLZ of Indiana to provide preliminary engineering and design services on the new bridge.
The engineering outfit will help settle whether it's a steel truss bridge, or one that has a concrete base with a steel truss façade.
Construction is supposed to take virtually all of 2010.
Public complaints have surfaced about detouring traffic around the area entirely.
City engineers are nervous about another idea for handling the traffic demands during the building phase.
David Ross/City Engineer: "One of the proposals involved a temporary bridge, which had a fairly high price tag, I think a million dollars, and would probably be very destructive to a lot of the elements in the park area."
Neumeyer: " We're mainly talking about how a temporary bridge would almost certainly wipe out a number of ash trees planted a dozen years ago in Headwaters Park.
The park's director views them as very valuable assets.
Director Geoff Paddock/Headwaters Park: " We have invested literally thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars to plant these trees, to nurture them. We're concerned about how a temporary bridge or construction project could effect us with these trees."
Neumeyer: " One of the jobs DLZ of Indiana is expected to tackle, helping to navigate a way around this potential land mine. Maintaining restricted travel across the new bridge during construction might be a compromise solution.
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