The new signature 266-foot pedestrian bridge designed and built for Ralph Wilson Park is about to arrive in Buffalo. It's expected to begin the last part of its trip to Buffalo on the Erie Canal on Friday. The journey is expected to take approximately 10 days.
The design of the bridge was selected through a community-based design competition led by the University at Buffalo Regional Institute in early 2020. The bridge left the manufacturing site, Cimolai, in Italy in early June on a barge, traveled across the ocean, and through the New York harbor this past weekend.
The bridge is in four pieces and will arrive on the shore of Ralph Wilson Park on two barges in mid-July. It will be welded together at the park and will look to be installed over the I-190 in October. Additional construction work will take place before Ralph Wilson Park, including the bridge, begins opening in phases in 2026.
The Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy and local partners will provide information about the exact time and date of the arrival of the barges carrying the Ralph Wilson Park Bridge (anticipated July 15 or 16) and suggested publicly accessible viewing locations (on water and land) so that the community can watch the historic arrival of the bridge to the shore of Ralph Wilson Park. Updates will be provided on the Ralph Wilson Park Instagram @RalphWilsonParkBridge.