Denver Millennium Bridge - Denver, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 45.278 W 105° 00.256
13S E 499634 N 4400524
Denver's Millennium Bridge allowing pedestrians to cross the lightrail-railroad yard
Waymark Code: WM31P4
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 01/26/2008
Views: 149
Designed by ArchitectureDenver, the 130-foot-long Denver Millennium Footbridge (2002) was built to cross the railroad tracks separating Riverfront Park, a complex of stores, condos, and green spaces, from the 16th Street Mall. The bridge is a cable-stayed bridge, the first to use post-tensioned structural construction. It allows the bridge deck to be as thin as possible, with minimum elevation gain, as it crosses over the city's railroad and lightrail system. One design issue was to have the deck as low as possible while still allowing trains to pass underneath, the support structure had to be above the deck, hence the single, tilted mast at one end; the is the 200-foot-tall, tapered steel mast, which resembles that of a sailboat which has quickly become a notable landmark in lower downtown Denver. The tower is tilted to distribute the asymmetrical weight. Completed to a tight timescale, the bridge won the 1997 Merit Award, Denver Chapter American Institute of Architects and a Gold Award at the New York Association of Consulting Engineers ‘Engineering Excellence Awards 2003.’