Ceremony to be held for USC Aiken bridge groundbreaking

This is an artist's rendering of the pedestrian bridge that upon completion in 2013, will connect the USC Aiken main campus to the Convocation Center complex. Submitted photo.

USC Aiken will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a new pedestrian bridge at the Convocation Center side of Robert M. Bell Parkway on Monday at 3 p.m.

The $1.3 million bridge has been many months in the planning. It is being constructed to provide students, staff, faculty and others a safer means of crossing the parkway from the housing side of campus to the Convocation Center, USCA official said.

Funding sources for the bridge are as follows: $200,000 from the S.C. Department of Transportation, $500,000 from the Aiken County Transportation Committee, $300,000 from Institutional Capital Project funds and $300,000 from institutional funds.

The bridge is slated for completion by early 2013, and its groundbreaking is among the many celebratory events this academic year in recognizing USCA's 50th anniversary. The bridge will be 10 feet wide with a 140-foot span and will weigh an estimated 380 tons. Towers will rise 40 feet above the existing roadway, and the bridge is designed to have a 17-foot, six-inch clearance over the parkway.

The bridge also will feature a 16- by 24-foot USCA logo sign. The groundbreaking ceremony will include comments by USC officials, the S.C. Department of Transportation and University of South Carolina President Dr. Harris Pastides.

Immediately following the ceremony, the event will move to the lobby of the Convocation Center. Pastides will formally present a new Chancellor's medallion to USCA Chancellor Dr. Tom Hallman. The medallion is worn by the chancellor at formal occasions, such as convocations, commencements, and inaugurations - a tradition which can be traced back to the Middle Ages.