Walkway to the Children's Hospital

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A pedestrian bridge connecting the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital facility with a new outpatient services building was put into place along the Medical Mile on Saturday.

The bridge will allow visitors to park in the underground parking structure and walk across Michigan Street to the hospital. Construction closed Michigan Street between Coit and Bostwick Avenues for Saturday and part of Sunday.

"It's really such an iconic structure that it will be part of the experience of welcoming kids and families into the new children's hospital," said Thomas Hanley, the hospital's director of communications.

The bridge is impressive for its construction and design. Each section of the 200-foot long, 99-ton bridge was built in St. Louis and trucked to Grand Rapids for a three month-long assembly.

"It has soaring structures and no two pieces of glass are alike in it," Hanley said. "It's going to be an amazing experience."

The bridge is a key component to the new $286 million children's hospital project.

It's another building block in Grand Rapids' ever-growing Medical Mile "that's creating over a billion dollars worth of health care infrastructure for Grand Rapids and beyond," Hanley said.

The bridge should be completed by Jan. 1, 2011 -- in time for the grand opening of the new DeVos Children's Hospital.