A Tuscaloosa City Council committee has cleared a key hurdle for the University of Alabama's plan to build an elevated pedestrian bridge over University Boulevard, giving nursing students and staff a way to reach DCH Regional Medical Center without crossing the busy roadway on foot. The properties committee voted in favor of an aerial right-of-way easement for the project at a meeting on Tuesday, though that vote does not amount to final approval from the full council.
The proposed bridge would connect the Capstone College of Nursing with the DCH side of University Boulevard, according to WBMA. A university representative told the committee that pedestrian safety is a major reason for the proposed span, citing close calls involving students and faculty crossing the boulevard. The structure would rise roughly 16 feet above the roadway, a clearance height that the university says would also accommodate potential future roadway improvements.
How the Crossing Would Work
The bridge is designed with an open-air look that would incorporate architectural features from the nursing school itself, and access would be tightly controlled. Secure, card-controlled entry points would sit at both ends, limiting use to authorized students and faculty rather than the general public. On the nursing-school side, access would run through a second-floor corridor, with connections to existing buildings by way of corridors, stairs and elevators, per the same account.
Under the proposal, the university — not the city — would handle both construction and long-term maintenance of the bridge. The crossing is tied directly to a larger building addition at the Capstone College of Nursing, and construction on that addition was already underway as of the committee presentation. According to buildingbama.ua.edu, the broader project calls for renovating roughly 31,175 existing square feet of the nursing college while adding another 50,100 square feet, bringing the total project area to about 81,275 square feet.
Cost and Timeline Still Unsettled
What the bridge itself will ultimately cost remains an open question. The university did not disclose a total estimated cost for the bridge during Tuesday's committee meeting, the station's report notes. Earlier coverage has described the broader expansion differently: WBRC reported in September that the nursing-school expansion would cost around $80 million; the plans had been announced in February. The Crimson White reported that the nursing-school addition and bridge would cost over $80 million, according to its coverage of a Board of Trustees committee meeting.
The university's project page lists June 2028 as the project's completion date, though the university has not announced a specific opening date for the bridge itself. The committee presentation also did not establish whether construction would require temporary lane closures or other traffic restrictions on University Boulevard, and the project still awaits any additional approvals needed before construction can move forward.
A Campus Grappling With Pedestrian Safety
The push for a dedicated crossing comes as UA continues to confront pedestrian-vehicle collisions near campus. Nine students were struck by cars in the first month of fall 2024 alone — matching the total reported for all of 2023 — and a UAPD spokesperson said reported accidents doubled from four to eight between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years, according to The Crimson White. A preliminary study of more than 300 UA students who used scooters or bikes found that 55% reported a near-miss, 30% had been in a crash and 18% reported an injury.
One student described being struck by a car turning left at the University and Wallace Boulevard intersection, jamming her finger and elbow, the outlet reported. In response to the broader problem, the SGA and UAPD approved the Look Up Legends initiative in 2024 to post signs promoting pedestrian awareness across campus. The provided evidence does not tie any specific crash count to the University Boulevard crossing near the nursing school and medical center.
The nursing-school expansion that the bridge is designed to serve is part of the university's five-year plan to double its nursing enrollment, WBRC reported in September. With the properties committee's backing secured, the proposal now heads toward further review as the university works to finalize a project that still lacks a disclosed price tag, a confirmed construction timeline for the crossing, and a public opening date.
