For nearly two years, a wooden span crossing Salem Creek near the Southeast Gateway has been fenced off and padlocked.
In the shadows of nearby development intended to change the character of the area by creating an aesthetically pleasing (and financially profitable) grand entrance to downtown Winston-Salem, the bridge sat unused, a nearly forgotten piece of a puzzle that city leaders have been nudging toward completion for more than 10 years.
Coupled with upgrades to the greenway, the $183,000 bridge was expected to be a tie that bound a confluence of interests -- the $15 million YWCA and UNC School of the Arts to the south, Salem College and Old Salem to the northeast, and a mixed-use development of offices, shops and condominiums to the north.
It wasn't quite a bridge to nowhere, but it was close.
Not for much longer, though. In a few short weeks, the area should finally open the way planners intended all along.
Patient approach
When construction workers were putting the finishing touches on the bridge in November 2007, Tim Grant, the director of the city's recreation and parks department, cautioned that it might not open to foot traffic for some time.
Grant expressed optimism that it would open by spring 2008, but it was fairly plain that he wasn't holding his breath.
The developers of the Gateway project, East Coast Capital Inc., needed additional time for construction on their 48-acre project, and the recreation department needed time to pull together grant money to help pay for upgrades to (and expansion of) the greenway and strollways that flow into the area.
It was to be an exercise in patience and prudence.
"We've been doing things as we could afford to do them," said Chad Davis, the president of East Coast Capital. "Nobody was leveraging anything. We all were patient. Nobody wanted to open a bridge to a construction site."
William Royston, the park superintendent, agreed with that assessment. Major construction needed to be nearly complete before the city could plow forward.
"We wanted to avoid doing a piece here and a piece there," Royston said. "We wanted to plan it so once we started, it could go all the way through."
Bridge to somewhere
Having a clear plan and sticking to it is an interesting concept. This particular project took off in 2004 when East Coast Capital -- helped greatly by $400,000 from the Winston-Salem Alliance's Millennium Fund, a private economic-development fund -- bought 6 acres where Ian's Body Shop used to stand.
The city sold 5 acres nearby to the developer for $500,000 and used some of the proceeds for site preparation -- water and sewer installation, grading, environmental clean-up and the like.
Sure, all the principals would have liked to have made more progress faster. But the financial sky fell, moneymen ran for the hills, and projects ground to a stop.
"Everybody had to hold tight," Davis said.
As for the city's greenway tie-in, much progress has been made in a few short weeks. Crews have laid out a foundation to move the greenway further south toward the old Happy Hills Garden neighborhood, and plans for two underpasses beneath the busy Broad and Waughtown streets are moving forward.
Paving and widening the new paths could be completed as soon as Thanksgiving. A new, wider bridge to replace an older, narrow one in Washington Park has been ordered.
"The idea is to be able to go from Marketplace Mall all the way to Salem Lake without having to cross a street," Royston said.
It might have taken longer than hoped, but this project looks like a winner in the tortoise-and-hare mode: a makeover for a run-down area that didn't require direct cash payments from the public till to a private developer.
A bridge that appeared to lead to nowhere actually shows a clear path to success. All it took was a little patience, private investment and market forces to work.
ssexton@wsjournal.com
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