The Houston Parks and Recreation Department held a grand opening for the Rosemont Bridge on March 26.The Rosemont Bridge,which enables pedestrians and bicyclists to cross Buffalo Bayou and/or Memorial Drive near Montrose,connects nearby neighborhoods and provides access to Buffalo Bayou's 124 acres while creating a new tree-top view of Houston's downtown skyscrapers.
The bridge is an all-local effort,including design by the Houston office of SWA Group,a landscape architecture,planning and urban design firm;construction-contracting by Millis Development&Construction,Houston;and fabrication by King Fabrication,also of Houston.
A rare curving-truss span,the Rosemont Bridge design"knits together an extensive urban pedestrian network,and builds on other significant work in the bayou corridor,"said Julia Mandell of SWA Group.SWA's Kevin Shanley led a design team including Mandell and Scott McCready."Its striking visual presence,beautiful columns,railings and truss structure are reminiscent of freeways,which is very appropriate for Houston."
The 780 foot long bridge is composed of seven structural sections with the heaviest being 35,000 pounds.The bridge sections were hoisted into place by 300 and 700 ton cranes and sit in concrete columns/bents supported by 40 feet deep drilled piers of 48″and 60″diameters.105 cubic yards of concrete were poured in place to create the bridge deck.The bridge guardrails are galvanized steel and house 195 lights which light up the deck surface at night.The project also includes 10 foot wide concrete trails that connect adjacent neighborhoods to area parks and greenbelts along the bayou,earthwork and tree,shrub,vine,solid sod,and seed installation.
