TxDOT Addresses Pedestrian Bridge Concerns - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

Safety concerns about a new pedestrian bridge along the Marsha Sharp Freeway had some people asking NewsChannel 11 for answers. We received several calls Monday from fans who took the bridge to Jones AT&T Stadium Saturday. Callers told us the bridge moved so much it scared them, so we took those concerns to the engineers at the Texas Department of Transportation.

The bridge fans were concerned about crosses over the freeway, just west of the University Avenue intersection.  A lot of people use the bridge, because not only does it cross over to the Texas Tech University Campus, the southern end stops right at Jones AT&T Stadium.  So, especially on game days, a lot of fans cross over the bridge, and that's why they wanted their safety concerns answered.

"We got a few call Monday morning about movement on the pedestrian bridge Saturday night," Texas Department of Transportation Spokesperson Diana Ascencio said.  She tells NewsChannel 11 it is normal for all bridges to have a certain amount of bounce and sway.  Still, they wanted to make sure the bridge is safe.

On Monday crews completed a visual and on-site inspection of the pedestrian bridge, and Ascencio say they did not find any abnormalities. "We had our engineers out there. We had our designers out there looking at the bridge, recalculating the bridge design to make sure all calculations came out. Everything checked out; there was nothing unusual found," Ascencio said. 

As construction continues on the freeway, TxDOT assures us the bridge is safe and will be available for fans to use on Saturday's game against OSU.  In total there are four pedestrian bridges across the Marsha Sharp Freeway. Three connect to the TTU Campus. The fourth crosses over at Avenue U.

Get More About Marsha Sharp Freeway & Other TxDOT Projects Find out the status of TxDOT construction projects in the South Plains area.