A bridge inspires by connecting:
Communities
Business centers
Neighborhoods
People
Cultures
Signature bridges remove barriers and span distances — both literally and figuratively. When designed with the entire community at heart, they inspire and generate civic pride. More than connecting destinations, they become destinations. They transition from community assets into community enhancements. Successful signature bridges improve the lives of the people and communities that depend on them.
Answering Critical Questions
How do you turn the dream of having a signature bridge into reality? It starts with asking and answering critical questions. Is it possible to integrate form and function, matching community aspirations while also meeting budgetary realities?
Set yourself up for success by taking a community-focused approach from the start.
Creating an Environment for Team Excellence
There is nothing standard about a signature bridge, and it may seem daunting at first. Yet being uncomfortable can spark innovation. HDR has planned, designed and helped build numerous award-winning signature bridge assets, and we can guide you through our proven process.
1. Unite the Team
Listen, communicate and engage with internal and external stakeholders, including the community at large. Create a safe place where all ideas are welcome. Build trust.
2. Discover New Possibilities
Be open. Adapt processes as necessary. Flex to accommodate new ideas. Define guidelines that capture your community’s unique needs and culture, and keep standards high.
3. Achieve an “Aha!”
Galvanize around the plan and actively collaborate throughout the process. Persevere to deliver a successful opening.
Gaining and Synthesizing Community Support
Investing in collaboration early in the project development phase can inspire community ownership, build acceptance and point you toward amenities that can enhance the project design and add more value for the public. There are four stages to the community input and connection process:
1. Listening
Hearing what stakeholders have to say and understanding what resonates with them can inform key aesthetic design features that demonstrate a community’s culture. These opening discussions are also a great time to develop selection criteria and design objectives for evaluating future concepts.
Outcomes
Purpose and Need
Goals and Objectives
Evaluation Criteria
Universe of Alternatives
2. Concept Development
At this stage, designers push the boundaries of what’s possible while staying within the margins of budget, project needs and community wishes. Collaborating with owners and other stakeholders, including community groups, we begin to review concepts and focus in on top options.
Outcomes
Definition of Alignments
Reduction of Bridge Form, Approach and Roadway Alternatives
3. Concept Refinement
This is where aesthetic design meets engineering proficiency to balance costs, quality and value. We draw on HDR’s global bridges and structures experts to fine-tune the designs and add detail, such as lighting, colors or sizes of specific elements. More concepts are eliminated and others are merged or modified.
Outcomes
Top Bridge, Approach and Roadway Alternatives
4. Selection
By this point, we have three or fewer final concepts for the owner, stakeholders and community to consider. Renderings, models and virtual reality simulations might be created to help everyone visualize the options. Once a design is selected, a custom bridge team involving specialized planning, design and engineering expertise will take the chosen preliminary design to the next level, developing a final design to be used for construction.
Outcomes
Preferred Bridge, Approach and Roadway Alternative
Navigating Complexity
From the first listening sessions to design selection, the process can range from six to nine months. It involves formal methods such as environmental justice work and public outreach efforts, as well as in-depth discussions with stakeholders impacted by the bridge and ongoing collaboration with the bridge’s owner. The resulting bridge design is tailored to the community, taking into consideration local transportation needs, site conditions, weather, the visual landscape, unique cultural aspects and more.
The combination of an extremely collaborative atmosphere, strong design vision and technical know-how creates an environment where a standard bridge becomes an iconic structure that instills community pride and goes beyond connecting destinations to becoming a destination in its own right.
Where Environment Shapes Form to Meet Function
St. Croix River Crossing
Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and St. Joseph, Wisconsin
Designed to complement its surroundings, the St. Croix Crossing uses a unique hybrid design — part-cable-stayed, part-box-girder — to reduce the number of piers in the river and minimize the visual impact to the river valley. It was one of only three constructed extradosed bridges in the United States at the time of its opening. Other design choices included rounding corners to provide a streamlined look, subdued aesthetic lighting and an earth-tone color that helps blend with the surroundings. Opponents expressed concerns about its environmental impact, but extensive public outreach and conscientious design allowed for the finished bridge to fit with its scenic setting and it has become a popular destination for local pedestrians and bicyclists.
Type of bridge: Extradosed
Bridge specs/cost: 3,365 feet; four 600-foot extradosed spans; 1,715-foot concrete segmental box girder approach bridges; $377 million
Client: Minnesota and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation
Start/Completion Date: June 2012/August 2017
HDR Role: Lead Designer
Making a Community Splash in Miami
I-395 Signature Bridge
Miami, Florida
Intended to redefine the Miami skyline, the I-395 signature bridge features a sweeping, unprecedented fountain design with six arches of varying lengths, heights and angles springing from a central arch thrust block. Visually paying tribute to Miami as a gateway city where many peoples and cultures come together along the waterfront, the form follows function as it provides more efficient travel for drivers, and the high vertical clearance transforms the area below into a vibrant 33-acre Heritage Trail park connecting multiple Miami neighborhoods and creating a sense of place and destination.
Type of bridge: Cable-stayed precast segmental arches
Bridge specs/Estimate cost: 6 precast segmental arches; twin 1,046-foot suspended spans; 1.4 miles of interstate; $818 million
Owner: Florida Department of Transportation and the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority
Start/Estimated Completion Date: May 2018/Fall 2024
HDR Role: Lead Designer, Archer Western-de Moya Design-Build Joint Venture Engineer of Record for Signature Bridge
Rendering credit: The Connecting Miami JV | Archer Western-de Moya Group
Bending the Rules with Artistic Arches
Green Street Pedestrian Bridge
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Capturing Winston-Salem’s commitment to the arts, culture and innovation, the Green Street Pedestrian Bridge creates an iconic western gateway into the city. Based on a design concept commissioned by a local coalition, HDR worked closely with NCDOT and the City of Winston-Salem, employing rigorous engineering and parametric design to bring this highly intricate and ambitious bridge design to reality. Connecting the community and facilitating economic development, this contemporary bridge links the West Salem neighborhood to the city’s new multi-use path, nearby baseball stadium and a thriving downtown.
Type of bridge: Unbraced, tied arch structure with two sets of inclined arches
Bridge specs/cost: 141 feet and 8 inches (abutment to abutment); upper arch span 102 feet and 7 inches, maximum height 30 feet and 2 inches; lower arch span 110 feet and 4 inches, maximum height 16 feet; $2.9 million
Owners: City of Winston-Salem; North Carolina Department of Transportation
Start/Completion Date: August 2019/September 2020
HDR Role: Engineer of Record, providing structure design, lighting design and engineering support during construction
An Engineering Marvel of American Ingenuity, Grit and Power
Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
Boulder City, Nevada
The graceful Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge is both a functional structure and symbolic monument. It provides an alternative, safe, high-speed traffic route near the dam and protects the facilities, workers and visitors, as well as the Colorado River. Physically spanning space, this bridge also spans time as a memorial to both its namesakes. It also celebrates visual appeal and engineering excellence of the original Hoover Dam designers. The geometric shape of the arch complements the curve of the dam and open column segments allow clear visibility of the breathtaking dam and canyon environment.
Type of bridge: Concrete deck arch
Bridge specs/cost: 1,060-foot arch span; 1,900-foot bridge deck; 840 feet above Colorado River (highest bridge in the U.S.); $240 million
Client: Central Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration
Start/Completion Date: August 2001/October 2010
HDR Role: Prime Design Consultant/Lead Designer; Design Services During Construction
A Towering Achievement in Mobility
Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge
Westchester and Rockland Counties, New York
By sheer scale, the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement is a signature landmark. Designed and constructed for current commuters and pedestrians as well as future generations, this vital river crossing is a model of innovation and collaboration, from advancing geotechnical and foundation engineering, to a partnering mentality that included co-locating the design-build team and the owner, and involving local residents in making design choices. The resulting sleek, iconic structure is distinguished by two sets of outward-leaning, 419-foot-tall tapered towers spreading toward the sky creating a gateway to the Hudson Valley.
Type of bridge: Cable-stayed main span, steel girder approach spans
Bridge specs/cost: 1,200-foot channel span; 3.1-mile twin bridges with 8 general traffic lanes, 4 breakdown/emergency lanes, a 12-foot bike and pedestrian path with 6 unique scenic overlooks, state-of-the-art traffic monitoring and aesthetic lighting, space for dedicated bus lanes and mass-transit ready; $3.98 billion
Owner: New York State Thruway Authority
Start/Completion Date: January 2013/August 2017 first bridge; September 2018 second bridge; June 2020 bike-pedestrian path
HDR Role: Lead Engineer/Designer and a subcontractor to Tappan Zee Constructors, LLC, a consortium that includes Fluor Enterprises, American Bridge Company, Granite Construction Northeast and Traylor Bros.
Trail Over Rail Revitalization
L.A. River Pedestrian Bridge
Los Angeles, California
Inspired by other L.A. County municipalities’ improvements to riverfront paths, the City of Los Angeles is looking to enhance the L.A. River. MetroLink asked us to develop a concept for a bridge to create a multimodal connection from L.A. Union Station to the Los Angeles River Trail and its walking and bicycling paths, pocket parks, boating and other activities. The new pedestrian bridge design spans two bus rapid transit lanes and 10 lanes of U.S. 101, avoids historical properties, travels under high tension wires and traverses two heavy rail tracks before touching down on the trail.
Type of bridge: TBD
Bridge specs/cost: TBD
Client: MetroLink
Estimated Start/Completion Date: 2022/2025
HDR Role: Lead Designer
Complex bridges. Simple choice: HDR.
With a passion for all types of bridges, we offer every bridge-related service you can think of and a few you might not. We bring our collaborative expertise to everything from pedestrian and movable bridges to some of the largest, most complex bridge programs in the United States. These include serving as the general engineering consultant for SR 520 — the world’s longest floating bridge — as well as the lead designer for the Bayonne Bridge navigational clearance project, back-to-back winners of the American Council of Engineering Companies Grand Conceptor Award in 2017 and 2018. We are also the lead designer on the Pennsylvania Rapid Bridge Replacement Program, the award-winning Marc Basnight Bridge (Herbert C. Bonner Bridge Replacement) in North Carolina and New York’s Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which replaced the Tappan Zee.
Our Story
HDR specializes in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services. While we are most well-known for adding beauty and structure to communities through high-performance buildings and smart infrastructure, we provide much more than that. We create an unshakable foundation for progress because our multidisciplinary teams also include scientists, economists, builders, analysts and artists.
Our employees, working in more than 200 locations around the world, push open the doors to what’s possible each and every day.