Courtesy of the city of Salem

Crews set a pedestrian bridge in place Wednesday on the Roanoke River Greenway next to East Riverside Drive in Salem.

A nearly four-ton piece of "phase II A," a portion of the Roanoke River Greenway in Salem, was put in place Wednesday.

As heavy rains fell, crews from the city's streets and maintenance department set a 7,300-pound pedestrian bridge in place on the pathway.

The 36-by-14-foot steel structure, which runs parallel to East Riverside Drive and to the Roanoke River, carries the greenway over a culvert between Riverland and Manchester drives. It is rated to hold five tons and will soon be topped with concrete, according to city spokesman Mike Stevens.

The bridge was made in Alabama and was brought up on a flatbed truck Tuesday. Footers, or supports for the bridge, were constructed several weeks ago, Stevens said.

This latest addition comes almost three weeks after flooding caused setbacks for the $470,000 project. Bad weather on Nov. 12 brought the river several feet above the trail and damaged between 250 and 300 feet of the new greenway.

Will Simpson, a Salem city engineer, said the shoulders have been repaired and crews are now concentrating largely on stabilizing the banks and the trail with gabion basket walls, wire-mesh baskets filled with ballast that act like a retaining wall. The sections that were raised or damaged have been temporarily flattened out and will be replaced later.

Simpson said phase II is still scheduled to be completed sometime in early January. This section of the greenway will connect Colorado Street with Rotary Park.