Big River Crossing marking one year with light show
From WREG News Channel 3
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Big River Crossing will celebrate its one-year anniversary Sunday, and the unique attraction is drawing big crowds to the river in its first year.
Nearly 250,000 people have made the one-mile crossing across the Mississippi River over the old Harahan Bridge’s new pedestrian walkway, project leaders say.
About 15 percent of those crossings were by bike, with the rest by foot. That’s the equivalent of more than half a million miles traveled.
The scenic overlook, which is illuminated by more than 100,000 LED lights, has garnered architecture awards and positive press since it opened after several years of planning and construction at a cost of $18 million.
The bridge will run dynamic 20-minute light shows honoring the anniversary at 7 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday, the bridge will host the Big River Crossing Half Marathon + 5K, which will benefit Peer Power Foundation. Half-marathon runners will have the first chance to run a two-state race across the bridge and through parts of the Big River Trail, which has recently been expanded from 70 miles of trails along Mississippi River’s levee system into an additional 6.7-mile paved loop in the Arkansas floodplains.
