Every crossing between Manchester and downtown Richmond has a rebuild on the schedule. That includes the Mayo Bridge, the 9th Street Bridge, the footbridge behind CoStar that leads to the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, and the short Hull Street bridge over the Manchester Canal. WRIC reported on Oct. 22 that these large projects are "slated to close all three bridges connecting the neighborhood and downtown Richmond for an extended period in the next few years."
They won't all close at once. A city spokesperson told WRIC that "the city is coordinating these projects with the goal of avoiding simultaneous closures of all three bridges and minimizing impacts on residents and commuters." In practice, the projects will hand off to each other, and the 9th Street Bridge is the only crossing the city has promised to keep open to people on foot and on bikes the whole way through. If you walk to work, bike the Potterfield loop or drive Hull Street to 14th, the order of the work matters more than any single start date.
Four crossings, four different schedules
Here is where each project stood in late October 2026, based on city, state and local news sources. Several of these dates are estimates that officials say are still changing.
| Crossing | What's planned | Latest reported timing |
|---|---|---|
| Hull Street over Manchester Canal | $10.7 million replacement of a "structurally deficient" bridge | Manchester Alliance info sheet: start October 2026, finish fall 2028. City project page: plans at 60% |
| Mayo Bridge, 14th Street | $190 million replacement, four lanes reduced to two | City estimate: August 2028 to spring 2033. VDOT: "To be determined" |
| Manchester Connection footbridge | $6.3 million widening to roughly 8 to 10 feet | Spring or summer 2028, closed up to two years. No official start date |
| 9th Street / Manchester Bridge | Fall Line Trail shared-use path conversion | Fall 2029, possibly sooner |
The 41-foot bridge that goes first
The smallest project on the list comes first, and it shapes the rest. The Hull Street span over the Manchester Canal is short, but The Richmonder reported in December 2025 that the Department of Public Works plans to replace it before Mayo construction begins. Under that plan, the new canal bridge would first carry the same four travel lanes Hull Street has now. It would keep that layout while Mayo is closed. Once Mayo is finished, it would be restriped to one travel lane and one bike lane in each direction to match the new Mayo layout.
The start date is less settled. WRIC cited a Manchester Alliance info sheet saying canal bridge work would begin this month and wrap up in fall 2028. The city's own project page lists the estimate at $10,761,323 and says plans are 60% complete, Section 106 historic review is underway and private utility relocations are in progress. The city page does not yet give a posted detour for the bridge replacement itself.
Mayo stays open until a full closure that hasn't been scheduled
The Mayo Bridge opened in 1913, and VDOT is replacing it outright. The project began as a deck-only replacement. Then a structural and geotechnical analysis found that at least one pier would also need to be replaced, so the state switched to building a new bridge.
The latest concept on VDOT's project page, updated Oct. 22, includes:
- Two vehicle lanes instead of four, one in each direction
- Dedicated bike lanes
- A separated pedestrian walkway, with extra space on the western side to line up with the existing trail system
- A posted speed of 25 mph instead of 35, with traffic calming on Mayo Island
Axios Richmond reported that the current plan is to build the new bridge alongside the old one, which keeps the existing bridge open for much of the work. Closures will still be needed to tie the new bridge into the roads at each end. City transportation spokesperson Jensen Gavulic gave The Richmonder an estimate of August 2028 to spring 2033. She said the bridge will stay open to cars, pedestrians and cyclists in the early stages, but a full closure will eventually be needed. During that closure, cyclists will be sent to the 9th Street Bridge and pedestrians to GRTC buses.
"The exact timing and duration of that closure have not yet been determined and will depend on the construction approach selected by the design-build team," Gavulic said in an email to The Richmonder.
The recent lane closures on Mayo were a separate job. The city scheduled resurfacing from Oct. 13 to 23, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, with one lane open in each direction. The replacement itself is still roughly two years away.
The footbridge behind CoStar is the closure that worries the neighborhood most
The Manchester Connection is the walking bridge off South 5th Street, behind CoStar Group, that links to the Potterfield Bridge. A city transportation spokesperson told WRIC that it doesn't meet current width standards. The city wants to widen it to about 8 to 10 feet, and preliminary concepts don't add any travel lanes.
The work period is what has residents concerned. WRIC reported that a Manchester Alliance info sheet put the start in spring 2028 with a two-year closure of the walking bridge, while the city told WRIC that no official start date or timeline has been set. Gavulic told The Richmonder that construction is expected to start in summer 2028 and last up to two years, and that "engineers are working to reduce the duration of the closure."
WRIC described the Manchester Alliance meeting where these plans came up as packed. Alliance president Janet Woodka told The Richmonder that even a six-month closure "is not acceptable to the community." She explained who depends on the bridge:
"We're talking about everybody on the Southside having access to the north side of the river. We are talking about businesses like Allianz Ampitheater and Costar. I mean, there's Costar employees here who walk across it every day going to work."
WRIC reported that the city scheduled a public input meeting on the preliminary Manchester Connection plans for Oct. 28 at Main Street Station. The design is still being worked out, so the closure length is the most likely of these numbers to change.
The 9th Street Bridge is the one crossing the city has promised to keep open
The reported dates send most foot and bike traffic onto the 9th Street Bridge. If the Manchester Connection closes in mid-2028 for up to two years, the footbridge route to Potterfield would be closed through around mid-2030. Mayo construction would begin in August 2028 and run to spring 2033, with a full closure somewhere in that period. The city's own detour plan for that closure sends cyclists to 9th Street.
The 9th Street Bridge has its own project too. Work to turn its pedestrian corridor into a Fall Line Trail shared-use path is expected to start in fall 2029. Gavulic said the team "is exploring opportunities to advance that timeline." Unlike the other two crossings, the city made a firm commitment here:
"The city intends to maintain pedestrian and bicycle connectivity across the Manchester Bridge throughout construction. While specific access arrangements and potential restrictions will be determined as the design progresses, maintaining these connections remains a project requirement."
If the current estimates hold, the busiest stretch runs from mid-2028 into 2030. During that time the footbridge would be closed, Mayo would be under construction, and the 9th Street Bridge would be the main bike and pedestrian route across the river, possibly while its own path work is underway. Moving the 9th Street work earlier, as the city says it is considering, would change that overlap. That is the date Manchester walkers and cyclists have the most reason to follow.
What's open on the river this November
The long-range schedule doesn't change much for the next few weeks. These are the near-term details that affect a weekend walk from Manchester:
- The Potterfield Bridge stays open. Venture Richmond says the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge will generally stay open during the Brown's Island construction, with access from Tredegar Street at the western end of the island. Detour signs mark the route.
- The Canal Walk detours around the island. Signs on Tredegar Street lead to the Haxall Point Bridge at the eastern end of Brown's Island, near 10th Street.
- Brown's Island reopens briefly for the marathon. The island closed for construction on Nov. 17, 2025. Venture Richmond says it will reopen temporarily on Nov. 14 for the Allianz Richmond Marathon, then close again for final construction. Full completion is expected in early 2027.
- The island will look different when it reopens. The project adds new Riverfront Terraces, about 200 new trees, 85% of them native, and more than 11,700 native plants and groundcovers. It also removes invasive species along the river's edge, which opens up the view of the water.
The timing works out in residents' favor. Brown's Island should be fully open again in early 2027, about a year before the reported 2028 start dates for the Manchester Connection and Mayo. None of the reported schedules calls for closing Mayo, the 9th Street Bridge or the footbridge behind CoStar this winter.
At Garner Realty LLC, we follow projects like these because a daily walk to work or a weekend loop over the Potterfield Bridge shapes life in Manchester as much as any home feature does. If you're in Manchester and wondering how years of bridge work could affect your home's value, ask us for your free home valuation. We'll walk you through what we're seeing on the Southside, as clearly as we'd explain it to family.
