The City of Rochester's Downtown Development Authority (DDA) decided, with assistance from HRC, that it was economically more feasible to convert and rehabilitate an old abandoned railroad bridge to a pedestrian bridge, rather than remove it and replace with a new pedestrian bridge.  This double arch concrete railroad bridge was originally built around 1890, carried the Penn Central Railroad and is about 75' long and 30' wide.  HRC first performed a detailed site investigation to determine the severity of deterioration and then a detailed bridge scoping investigation to establish the appropriate repair types and the magnitude of these repairs.  Several bridge rehabilitation alternates and associated preliminary construction estimates were then prepared by HRC and used to assist the City of Rochester's DDA with their alternate selection.  Once the alternate was established, HRC then prepared the bridge rehabilitation construction documents.  The conversion to a pedestrian bridge was under Phase I of the construction contract in the summer of 2004.  The rehabilitation of the double arch concrete structure was under the Phase II construction contract and was completed during the summer of 2009.

HRC responsibilities included:

• Perform a detailed site investigation
• Prepare and submit feasibility studies and preliminary cost estimates
• Topographical Survey and MDEQ Permit Application
• Perform a detailed Bridge Scoping investigation
• Bridge Rehabilitation and Pedestrian Bridge Conversion Design
• Pedestrian Lighting Design
• Prepare project plans, specifications and construction cost estimates
• Contract Administration
• Construction Engineering Support and Construction Observation
• Materials Testing