North America's first steel-arch and stress-ribbon bridge now adorns the city of Fort Worth, Texas, serving as a connection from the city's central business area with the arts district and its largest and oldest park.
The $2.5-million Phyllis J. Tilley Memorial Pedestrian Bridge stretches out 366 ft and is 12 ft, 9 in., wide. Several criteria on the part of the owner made the steel-arch, stretch-ribbon combo an ideal solution for the bridge. Stakeholders wanted an aesthetic structure, but the location is an urban area sensitive to increased flooding, so the bridge had to withstand being topped by more than 12 ft of floodwaters.