Cost of pedestrian bridge linking downtown to stadium grows

An aerial artist rendering of the Northside Drive Pedestrian Bridge, with its long ramps on either end.

An aerial artist rendering of the Northside Drive Pedestrian Bridge, with its long ramps on either end.

When Atlanta city officials requested funding for a pedestrian bridge over Northside Drive more than a year ago, they insisted the project would cost no more than $12.8 million and that it had nothing to do with the Falcon’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But at the council’s Transportation Committee meeting earlier this week, Katrina Taylor-Parks, deputy chief of staff to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, requested that the committee approve an additional $12.3 million in funding quickly because of next year’s NFL Super Bowl, which will be played at Mercedes-Benz.

“It is time sensitive,” Taylor-Parks said at the committee meeting. “You know Atlanta is planning on hosting a huge event in early 2019, actually several.”

The committee agreed to send the request to the full City Council without recommendation.