The pedestrian bridge connecting Newport and Cincinnati has reopened ahead of schedule. Repairs to the support columns on the Ohio side wrapped up five days earlier than planned.
Newport Economic Development Coordinator John Willis says the contractor was lucky to have good weather.
“As a city we’re very proud to have moved from a short-term solution, which was that shoring tower that’s been supporting the bridge,” he says. “To finally moving into a really long-term solution and fixing it, and going in and actually repairing the parts that needed to be repaired.”
Willis says while there's still some work to be done, none of it should force another closure.
“As for next steps, we’re really weighing the options right now. Something that we’ve discuss and something that we’ve applied for funding for is having an engineering study done on the bridge,” he says. “Really an inspection of it just to see where we need to focus our attention in terms of defered maintenance.”
He says a lot of people have asked when the bridge could be repainted a bright purple.
“We’ve gotten some ballpark quotes and it’s apparently quite expensive to paint a bridge,” he says. “We want to make sure the infrastructure is where it needs to be for the bridge before we focus on aesthetic things like paint.”
Willis says they would love to host more events like last fall's River Roots Market.
“I was on the bridge when River Roots was here, and I’ve never seen so many people on the bridge at one time.”
Willis says the City of Newport, which took control of the bridge in September 2025, is treating is like it's a park, and looking for more ways to use it.
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