Despite weather delays in the spring, the $80 million Omaha Veterans Memorial Bridge project is on schedule.

"We're about year into it right now,” says Rich Zelensky of the Nebraska Department of Roads which is overseeing the construction of a new bridge, complete with a bike trail connecting Omaha and Council Bluffs.

The wet spring affected the Iowa banks. "This area right through here was under about six feet of water,” says Zelensky. As the river receded, crews followed installing pylons along the way. "We were slowed a little bit, but because it's been awhile with some good weather we're doing pretty good now."

Zelensky says they kept the old span open as long as possible, but had to close it for two months to reconnect with Missouri Avenue and 13th Street.

The bridge reopens in two weeks and that's good news for Council Bluffs residents boxed in by several construction projects. “It's not so easy to go all the way around just to go to south Omaha, so it is a matter of inconvenience," says Janelle Liddick of Council Bluffs.

“You can go to the Bellevue bridge, but we've discovered that a lot of people do that," says Jan Collins of Council Bluffs.

The old bridge is more than concrete and metal to project manager Morrie Hinchey. A plaque on a pillar has his grandfather's name on it. "I guess I could tell my boy I helped build this one and his grandfather was on the commission that took care of the old one that I tore down."

Hinchey's family history will remain as the plaque becomes part of the new bridge. The distinctive pillars on the Omaha side of the river will become part of a new Veterans Memorial area.

The old bridge that has faithfully served the metro since 1936 will close for good next September and begin coming down. By June 2010 the new Omaha Veterans Memorial Bridge opens reuniting Omaha and Council Bluffs.