Buffalo’s 716 Day is here and to join the celebrations, the Ralph Wilson Park bridge, crafted in Italy, and shipped to New York state for a 12-day trip at 5 miles-per-hour along the Erie Canal, made its way through Lockport.
About a hundred people were standing on the bridges over the canal at 7 a.m. Tuesday. According to an update on Monday night from Caver Companies, the company in charge of moving the two barges, each holding pieces of the bridge, had separated the barges and tugged one of them to Gasport to dock.
At 6 a.m. the tug and barge left Gasport and traveled through Lock 34-35 to the delight of spectators.
“This will not be quite the ‘eye candy’ many of us had hoped for,” read the update. “But it will still be a great sight to see the vessels lock through the Lockport Locks.”
After delivering the first barge to Buffalo, the tugboat will return to Rochester to get the second barge and transport it also through Lockport and into Buffalo.
The pedestrian bridge will be erected over the I-190 and is 266 feet long. According to a press release from Ralph Wilson Park, “This bridge, once installed, will connect neighborhoods to a legacy park transforming the waterfront for those in the present and future.”
Ralph Wilson Park is a 100-acre waterfront park along Lake Erie in downtown Buffalo that began construction in 2022. The park was inspired by Imagine LaSalle, a “community-driven initiative” to make the former LaSalle Park into a destination all year round.
As the barge began to rise in the Lock, Franklin Rezarch, a local business owner who had stepped out of his bagel shop to watch the barge, was in awe.
“I love Lockport,” he said.