ATT bridge planning meeting, Wednesday Sept 17

by: Phillip Barron - September 16th, 2008   2 Comments

A few more meetings, and we should see a bridge.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), September 17, the City of Durham’s Department of Public Works is hosting a drop-in style information meeting on the bicycle and pedestrian bridge that will one day span I-40. Two bridge designs made the penultimate cut, with one emerging the victor. The City wants to explain in this meeting why it’s leaning toward the low-profile arch over the cable-stayed design.

currently favored design

Since no one design ever pleases everyone, expect to hear complaints from some about one or the other. Personally, I think the low-profile arch is beautiful for its simplicity. Reminds me of the Bow Bridge in (NYC’s) Central Park.

All in all, the design phase is moving along well and given that the low profile arch is the less expensive of the two options, hopefully procuring the (already earmarked) funding from the various agencies involved (city, state, and federal) will progress without a hitch.

But who knows, maybe NC DOT will step in, take over, and say we need a 6 lane bike highway.

Design photos snagged from Bull City Rising, Bow Bridge photos from the Library of Congress.

 
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  • http://archerpelican.typepad.com Phil

    I’d love it if there were a good bicycle route that rolled more or less by the Orange/Durham border at 15-501. That would be a nice excuse for a border arch.

    Regarding the ATT plans, I suspect I would also like the arch which is simultaneously more modest and more substantial. The cable-stayed design is beautiful, but I suspect that it might get lost against the sky, with all its effect wasted.

    A cable-stayed design might be better in a location like the ATT crossing on University Drive, the road is less wide, traffic moves more slowly, and people have a great chance to appreciate the art, close up.

  • JDM

    I like the look of the cable bridge, as it reminds me of the Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento river in Redding, CA. See pics here:

    http://www.shastalake.com/sundialbridge/day/

    Obviously the Sundial Bridge has a much nicer span (I can’t imagine that the glass-bottom of that bridge would make sense over I-40), but I like the way that the cables sail above it all.

    Most importantly I just hope that they get it done.