The first pedestrians stream across the newly opened T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge over the James River. Mayor Dwight C. Jones led the ribbon-cutting for the lighted bridge during the Grand Illumination on Friday. Richmond poured $11.3 million in state and city funds into the span open only to pedestrians and bikes. The new river crossing sits above a 1901 dam and links Brown’s Island on the North Side to an overlook on the South Side near the entry to the Manchester Bridge. Another $200,000 was spent on eight, 17-foot-tall metal rings that Denver artist Joshua Wiener created to adorn the South Side path to the 1,600-foot bridge. The bridge is named for a senior city planner who advocated for the bridge before his death in 2014. Construction began in October 2015 on the only current city structure named for a city employee.
