The former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator was among those who renewed the back-to-the-river movement nine years ago and won $19 million in federal funds to help finance the bridge in 2000.

 “It is what I envisioned,” Kerrey said after viewing architectural concepts of the bridge design that Mayor Mike Fahey selected earlier Thursday.

 “I applaud Mayor Fahey and others who have sustained this effort,” said Kerrey, who gave up his Senate seat in 2001 to become president of the New School University in New York. “I believe it will add tremendous economic and social value to Nebraska and Iowa.”

 Fahey and Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan hailed the bridge Thursday as an economic catalyst, an architectural statement and a vital link as the two mayors stood in front of large pictures of the suspension bridge with its 200-foot towers.

 Kerrey noted the bridge’s importance in connecting the nearly 150 miles of bicycle and pedestrian trails running along both sides of the Missouri River.

 Construction could begin as early as this fall with completion tentatively scheduled for November 2008, Fahey said.

 The announcement came more than two years after the original plan collapsed when bids came in at twice the project’s $22 million budget.

From the beginning, the bridge sparked debate over whether the project, which is largely funded with federal money, is a proper expenditure or a pork-barrel project. The project also will receive some state and private funds. 

Fahey and Hanafan said the completed bridge will win over doubters and be an important architectural addition to the riverfront. 

“I can assure residents of Omaha and Council Bluffs that, upon completion, this bridge will be the icon that we have been looking for over the past few years,” Fahey said.

 Hanafan said the bridge will be an “economic development tool for all of us.”

 Two Kansas City firms were selected for the project. HNTB of Kansas City, Mo., is the designer, and APAC of Kansas City, Kan., is the general contractor. The team was selected partly because of its joint experience with cable-stay suspension bridges in Milwaukee, Wichita, Kan., and Boston. 

Omaha has been searching for a way to build the bridge without using local tax revenues. Instead of seeking bids for a predetermined design, the city asked for a design-build proposal in which teams propose a design and promise to build it for a set price.

The delays were expensive. More than $4 million has already been spent.

 Fahey said he and Hanafan are close to reaching their target of $5 million in financing from private foundations, corporations and individuals.

 They already have commitments for about $3.5 million, Fahey said, and he is confident that additional commitments will be in hand when the final contract goes before the Omaha City Council in June.

 In making his pick, Fahey stayed close to the original plan for a curved suspension bridge. The bridge will stretch from a plaza north of the National Park Service building in Omaha to a landing on the levee in Council Bluffs.

 John K. Green, a citizen member of the review committee, said the committee chose the design because its two towers best symbolized the partnership between the two states and two cities.

 The HNTB design also took the Iowa landing all the way to the levee, making it more beneficial to Council Bluffs, Green said.

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