One important design consideration was meshing the look of the pedestrian bridge with that of the contemporary-style Tempe Center for the Arts. “This was accomplished by mimicking the triangular shapes of the TCA roof line by crossing the bow string arches of pedestrian bridge and crossing the cable,” says Brad Bielenberg, Otak’s project manager. “This resulted in a unique, elegant and dynamic bridge design that relates harmoniously with the arts center.”

Incorporating the north landing into the existing flood control embankment required modification because the embankment was steeper than ADA requirements. The resulting design has two terraces separated by steps with ADA paths connecting the existing path — allowing bicycle accessibility while maintaining the required flood control protection.

Bridge lighting at the entrances must satisfy the requirements of the city’s dark sky ordinance. “A traditional means of providing adequate light levels would have been the installation of pedestrian poles,” Bielenberg says. “However, this would have detracted from the elegant sweep of the bowstring arches and created gateways onto the bridge rather than letting the bridge eloquently connect to the land.”

Lighting is provided at linear bollards within the bridge railing, the kick-plate of the deck and at the arches. Accent lighting highlights the canopies and arches.

Gordon says procurement of the superstructure steel created potential delays to the fabrication schedule, because of the increase in federal projects that require domestic steel. However, with the assistance of T.Y.-Lin International, Stinger Welding was able to keep the project on schedule by substituting different grades and thicknesses of readily available pipe from domestic sources.

The cross points of the steel arches feature a 2.5-in., X-shaped plate requiring a full penetration weld, and the pipe surrounding the plate also has a full penetration weld, says Brett Woods, Stinger Welding’s project manager. “Keeping the cross connections dimensionally true was a big challenge due to the deformation of the material caused by the massive heat input from the welding,” he adds.

As part of the permanent downstream dam solution, Tempe’s city council this week will vote to approve the scope of work for an engineering services contract with Gannett Fleming Inc., Harrisburg, Pa., to identify and validate potential dam and gate alternatives, says Chris Kabala, Tempe’s engineering construction manager.