Kilgore College held an official groundbreaking Jan. 12 to celebrate the commencement of construction of a new pedestrian bridge over Highway 259 on the Kilgore campus.
Speakers at the event included KC President Dr. Brenda Kays; Kilgore Mayor Pro Tem Harvey McClendon; and Gregg County Precinct 3 Commissioner Floyd Wingo.
The bridge will be ADA compliant with elevators on both sides and will have a 19-foot, 6-inch clearance – as opposed to the previous bridge’s 16-foot clearance.
In September, the KC Board of Trustees awarded RLM General Contractors as the contractor to demolish what is left of the pedestrian bridge, and to build a new bridge.
The previous bridge was struck on Aug. 27, 2019, when a semi-truck hauling an over-sized load ran into the underside of the bridge.
Due to major structural damage, the bridge was deemed unsafe.
The demolition/construction of the new pedestrian bridge is expected to take nine months.
A 24-hour livestream of the bridge demolition and construction can be viewed during the duration of the project by visiting www.kilgore.edu/kc-bridge-cam.