Tying a Tech

摘要

Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta continues to provide upgrades to its master plan and improve the campus community. The east and west portions of Georgia Tech are tied together by a pedestrian bridge that crosses 15 lanes of the I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector. This signature structure provides a park-like setting for students and faculty, while offering safe and secure access to buildings on both sides of the highway. The bridge replaces an existing steel-plate girder bridge that carried four lanes of vehicular traffic and provided a 6-ft sidewalk on either side for pedestrians. Ar-cadis was part of the successful design-build project team. The new Fifth Street Pedestrian Bridge is a two-span structure with two vehicle traffic lanes, a turning lane, two paved bicycle lanes and a 24-ft-wide sidewalk. More than half of the 223-ft bridge is green space, offering benches, lawn and gathering areas. Decorative lighting, a tubular steel trellis and sloped walkways with concrete pavers add to the aesthetics. Precast concrete planter walls divide the pedestrian and roadway traffic and reduce noise. The landscape architect, Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates (SRSSA) specified the bridge plantings.