Bridge timeline:
November 2013: Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee announces in the Marietta newspaper the plan to build a bridge over I-285, connecting the new stadium with the county's convention and performing arts centers. The announcement comes one day after the Braves announce their intent to move to Cobb County. Lee incorrectly tells the newspaper that the bridge is part of the stadium construction budget and won't be an extra expense.
May 2014: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the bridge's future is in doubt after the cost estimate rose to $9 million, from $3.5 million. "I don't think anything about the bridge is certain at this point," Cobb transportation director Faye DiMassimo tells the newspaper.
July 2014: In front of a throng of reporters, Lee again says that bridge construction will not require any local tax dollars.
November 2014: The AJC reviews hundreds of pages of documents obtained through the state's open records law, which show county taxpayers would fund at least half of bridge construction costs, and that to save money the bridge would no longer carry a transit vehicle.
January 2015: The county issues a request for proposal for bridge design that asks for a double-deck bridge that could carry the transit vehicle on the bottom span and pedestrians on the top. The county offered a 2-percent bonus if the engineering firm finished its work in time for construction bids to be opened by October. The plan is to have the bridge ready by March 2017. County officials say the budget is still $9 million.
May 2015: The AJC reports that right-of-way costs will add an estimated $2 million to the cost of the bridge, and that the nearly $1 million for design and engineering is also not included in the county's construction estimate. Bridge engineers not associated with the project say construction alone could easily top $12 million.
July 2015: Commissioners approve a preliminary design for the bridge that is a single span and will carry both pedestrians and transit vehicles.
July 2015: The AJC is the first to report that engineers say bridge construction can not be completed until September 2017, or the last month of the Braves inaugural season in SunTrust Park. The newspaper also reports that a parking deck near the convention center will have to be reinforced for transit vehicles to access the bridge. The cost for the parking deck reinforcement is unclear.
July 2015: Some Cobb Galleria Authority members, which oversee the county's convention and performing arts centers and must approve bridge construction, express concern at the impact of the bridge on their businesses.
September 2015: The Georgia Department of Transportation declines to provide any financing for the bridge. The document shows the bridge reinforcement would cost an estimated $3.5 million, which also was not included in the county's $9 million cost estimate.
September 2015: Lee announces that the bridge will not be open for any part of the Braves first season in SunTrust Park, but vows that it will be built.
October 2015: The AJC obtains the first detailed budget for the bridge project. It shows the I-285 span costing $9 million and a second span, over Circle 75 Parkway to SunTrust Park for pedestrians only, costing an additional $2.2 million. There was no estimate for purchase of right-of-way.
December 2015: The first hint that the bridge project may be back on track: Derek Schiller, the Braves executive vice president of sales and marketing, tells a business group that the team is "optimistic" that the bridge will be complete in time for the Braves first pitch in the new ballpark.
Thursday: The Cumberland CID approves providing $5 million for bridge construction at a special meeting. Members say the infusion of cash could help the project be completed by April 2017.
View a time line of the bridge project at myAJC.com
The Cumberland Community Improvement District, a collection of businesses in Cobb County’s commercial hub, approved providing $5 million in funding for the bridge over Interstate 285 that would connect the Braves new stadium with the county’s convention center, office buildings and performing arts venue.
It’s a cash infusion that may help make completion of the project possible before the SunTrust Park opens in April 2017, officials said.
The CID cash will be provided in two, $2.5 million installments — the first in December of 2018 after the team’s second season in SunTrust Park and the final one in December 2019
The CID board, which includes the Braves’ executive vice president of business operations Mike Plant, approved the funding during a special meeting Thursday, even though the exact cost, design, schedule and funding plan for the bridge project has not been made public.
In addition to those open questions, the county has not secured the air rights for the bridge or disclosed how much that right-of-way access will cost taxpayers. Those air rights are controlled by real estate developer Childress Klein, which owns and manages buildings in the Galleria office park across the interstate from the Braves’ development.
Connie Engel, a partner with Childress Klein Atlanta and a CID board member, was one of the two votes against the CID funding. Childress Klein also controls thousands of parking spots around the office buildings — spaces that will be off limits to fans and people visiting the team’s mixed-use development.
About 2,000 parking spaces at the Galleria Centre, which includes the convention center and is separate from the office park, will be available to fans for games and special events.
“I’m positive about the bridge, I think the connection is good,” Engel said. “I just don’t think we have enough information. I’m uncomfortable with that. I’m uncomfortable with the speed here. I feel like I’m hearing conflicting things: we’re going to wait; we’re going to stop; now we’re going to speed it up.
“It’s just confusing.”
It was just four months ago that Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee announced that the bridge project would be delayed at least a year, meaning it would not be ready for the Braves inaugural season. He said the delay was necessary so Childress Klein could complete a privately-financed traffic study that would measure the impact of the bridge, and to allow the Cobb Galleria Authority time to finish a hotel study.
The Childress Klein study is not completed, and the hotel study has not been made public. Engel said she doesn’t know when the company’s study will be finished; she said the company needs more information on issues such as the Braves parking plan.
Lee did not attend Thursday’s meeting and refused to answer questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution afterward. Among them:
- Why are you moving forward with the project before air rights are secured and the Childress Klein traffic study is complete?
- How much will the entire project cost?
- Do you expect the bridge to be ready by SunTrust Park's opening in April 2017?
- When do you anticipate asking the commission to approve the bridge's design and financing plan?
- How will the CID funding help complete the bridge faster when its money won't be received until years after the bridge opens?
The Braves’ Plant said the bridge will benefit the entire business district — which includes thousands of new apartments, new office buildings and new hotels — and not just the Braves. And he said it is a critical project to keep the walking public safe. He called I-285 “the great divide” in the Cumberland area.
“People are going to try and walk, and you can’t walk safely across the great divide right now,” Plant said. “The only way to do it is under the expressway and that’s being (expanded) to add lanes that will make it even more dangerous. To me, it would be pretty irresponsible of us to” to not build the bridge.
“I’m completely in support of it, and not just selfishly,” Plant said. “I think it’s much (more important) than that.”
Board member Bob Voyles agreed, saying the CID has invested millions to improve traffic and now has to catch up on pedestrian safety.
“When we look back 20 years from now, this investment will prove itself out in a major way,” Voyles said. “It’s an investment where I think will have near-term and long-term positive impact.”
Board member and treasurer Barry Teague voted against the funding because he thinks the CID funded enough of the Braves development. The CID has committed an additional $10 million toward infrastructure around the stadium, and raised taxes on its businesses to help Cobb pay off $376 million in public debt for stadium construction.
The funding agreement passed 5-2.
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