Dome

View looking west from the east side, showing where the ramp meets the bridge; 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)