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cess points and replaced a railroad bridge near Raven Industries with a $244,000 pedestrian bridge.
• Project manager Brad Ludens said before beginning construction, crews had to clean up petroleum contaminants in the water left behind by long-gone factories and a coal gasification plant. And engineers had to do extensive hydraulic modeling to predict river changes from the new shore wall construction.
• "We had to model that to show FEMA and the Corps of Engineers (that) we weren't going to affect the flow of the river," Ludens said.
• The $3.4 million second phase, which begins at 8th Street and stretches south to nearly 9th Street, is focused along the site of the Hilton Garden Inn hotel, which is in the final stages of construction. The riverfront revamp adds a half-moon-shaped stepped water edge, landscaping, another pedestrian bridge and a street-level plaza with jumping water fountains.
• Coty Wallin, a 26-year-old nurse who was recently her out with her 7-week-old son Zander for their daily walk along the trail, said she loves the new scenery. The bicycle and pedestrian paths along the stretch have been widened to 16 feet and resurfaced, allowing Zander to continue with his morning nap.
• "It's really nice," Wallin said. "It's a lot smoother than the other trails in town."
• Miedema said the city has been receiving a lot of positive feedback from residents, bicycle clubs and business owners in the area.
• "Their employees love getting out in the middle of the day and taking a stroll on the Greenway," he said.
• The city has put aside money in its capital budget to begin a third phase in 2017, but the exact location could depend on future private development projects.
• Some ideas include a complete trail loop on both sides of the river from Falls Park to Fawick Park, improvements in front of the west bank along Raven Industries and an upgrade of the area along CNA Surety building on the east bank.
• "We haven't determined the location yet," Miedema said. "We're trying to leave it open in case some further redevelopment on the private side of things happens along the Greenway. All of these projects kind of depend on construction access down to the river."
• Miedema said the Big Sioux plan, which was commissioned in 2004, played a big part in property owners' decision in 2005 to knock down the old 202-foot-tall Zip Feed Mill tower and build the upscale Cherapa Place office building. That demolition spurred other projects, including the construction of the 117,000-square-foot CNA Surety building.
• "I think it has been a catalyst for that private redevelopment," he said.
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