BP Pedestrian Bridge
Gehry, Frank Owen; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

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Alternative Title
Millennium Park: BP Pedestrian Bridge
Date
1999-2004Description
View showing the path that leads to the bridge, west side, looking north and showing undulations; BP Pedestrian Bridge or simply BP Bridge is a pedestrian bridge crossing Columbus Drive in the Loop community area of Chicago that connects Millennium Park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza in Grant Park. The girder bridge is the first bridge designed by Pritzker Prize-winner, Gehry, and was named for British Petroleum who donated $5 million to the construction of the Park. The bridge is designed with a continuous slope rather than landings and switchback ramps, and it has a modest 5% slope to allow easy access for the physically challenged. The bridge was designed to serve two purposes: as a link between the Loop and the Lake Michigan lakefront, and also as a berm sound barrier between the vehicular traffic noise on the six-lane Columbus Drive and the stereophonic sounds of the Park's outdoor bandshell (Jay Pritzker Pavilion) by deflecting traffic sounds upward. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 7/12/2008)
Type of Work
bridge (built work)Subject
contemporary (1960 to present), bridges (built works), pedestrian bridge, steel clad, acoustics, Twenty-first century
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only