Ozark celebrates opening of $5.4M Chadwick Flyer Trail bridge

A few weeks after the Chadwick Flyer Trail bridge in Ozark first opened to foot and bicycle traffic, over 100 people were on-site at the newly constructed multimillion-dollar structure on May 14 to celebrate its completion.

City of Ozark officials say work on the pedestrian bridge that crosses over Highway 65 finished on time and with a price tag of roughly $5.4 million. A spring 2026 completion for the steel span bridge was targeted when a July 2025 groundbreaking ceremony was held, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The city first opened the bridge on April 1, as finishing touches, such as including angled panels and permanent railing, were tackled in subsequent weeks. 

The bridge, which is near the 39-mile marker of Highway 65, is part of the Chadwick Flyer Trail, a roughly 12-mile regional trail designed for cyclists, joggers and walkers. Ozark Public Works Director Jeremy Parsons said bringing the bridge to fruition was “a tremendous challenge” as officials including from the city, Ozarks Transportation Organization and Ozark Greenways Inc. collaborated on the project.

Parsons was among several officials who spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was followed by a short walk across the bridge for the dozens of people in attendance.

Parsons said the bridge provides “a chance to say welcome to Ozark, where we value quality of life, outdoor living, connection to our beautiful landscape, to our rivers, to our culture, to our history and to our neighbors.”

Radmacher Brothers Excavating Co. Inc. was general contractor for the project, while engineering work was by Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc.

“What’s so cool about the alignment that you see behind you, this is the precise alignment of the old Chadwick Flyer,” Parsons said. “The skew in that bridge is there for a reason. It’s to pay homage to our history.”

The trail spans roughly 12 miles of the original Chadwick Flyer rail line that covered almost 17 miles from National Avenue near downtown Springfield to Ozark’s Finley River Trail. In development since 2019, the project is a collaborative effort between the city of Ozark, OTO and Ozark Greenways. A cost study completed in 2024 for part of the greenway trail project pushed the total price tag estimate to over $30 million.

The project, which Parsons said included building an additional roughly 4,000 linear feet near the overpass, totals nearly 7,000 linear feet and ties into a portion of the trail on property owned by Tracker Marine near North 21st Street.

Ozark Mayor Don Currence said the ribbon-cutting ceremony is a celebration of a project years in the making.

“It’s so exciting to have increased new opportunities for recreation, wellness, just connectivity between our city and other cities in this area and we are proud to celebrate this milestone,” he said.

OTO Executive Director Sara Fields said she could count at least half a dozen funding partners in the audience that have contributed toward the Chadwick Flyer Trail project.

“Our original vision was connecting communities through trails, and we didn’t know how we would reach that vision,” she said. “It took some partners to get there – partners that saw the vision for a transportation connection, for a recreation connection and for a tourism connection.”

Nearly $1.2 million for the bridge project was provided to the city of Ozark from American Rescue Plan Act funds via the Missouri Department of Economic Development as part of the state’s Local Tourism Asset Development program, according to past SBJ reporting. Additionally, it received funding from OTO, the city of Ozark, Christian County and Ozark Greenways, which supplied money it received from the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund. 

An expanded version of this article is scheduled to be published in Springfield Business Journal’s May 25 print edition.