Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge

Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

(2005)
Coordinates 42°22′08″N 71°03′48″W / 42.36889°N 71.06333°W / 42.36889; -71.06333Coordinates: 42°22′08″N 71°03′48″W / 42.36889°N 71.06333°W / 42.36889; -71.06333
Carries 10 lanes of I‑93 / US 1
Crosses Charles River, MBTA Orange Line
Locale Boston, Massachusetts
Official name Leonard P Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge
Owner Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Maintained by Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design Hybrid Steel and Concrete Cable-stayed bridge[1]
Total length 1,432 ft (436 m)
Width 183 ft (56 m)
Height 270 ft (82 m)[1]
Longest span 745 ft (227 m)
Clearance below 40 ft (12 m)[2]
History
Construction cost $105 million[3]
Opened March 30, 2003 (NB)
December 20, 2003 (SB)[2]
Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (Massachusetts)

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (or Zakim Bridge) is a cable-stayed bridge across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss bridge constructed in the 1950s. Of ten lanes, the main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each way (northbound and southbound) of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 concurrency between the Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. Two additional lanes are cantilevered outside the cables, which carry northbound traffic from the Sumner Tunnel and North End on-ramp. These lanes merge with the main highway north of the bridge. I-93 heads toward New Hampshire as the "Northern Expressway", and US 1 splits from the Interstate and travels northeast toward Massachusetts' north shore, crossing the Mystic River via the Tobin Bridge.

The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the Big Dig, the largest highway construction project in the United States. The northbound (NB) lanes were finished in March 2003, and the southbound (SB) lanes in December. The bridge's unique styling quickly became an icon for Boston, often featured in the backdrop of national news channels, to establish location, and included on tourist souvenirs. The bridge is commonly referred to as the " Zakim Bridge" or "Bunker Hill Bridge" by residents of nearby Charlestown.

The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge was constructed in conjunction with the Zakim Bridge, allowing some traffic to bypass it.

Design

In a cable-stayed bridge, instead of hanging the roadbed from cables slung between towers, the cables run directly between the roadbed and the towers. Although cable-stayed bridges have been common in Europe since World War II, they are relatively new to North America.

The bridge concept was developed by Swiss civil engineer Christian Menn and its design was engineered by American civil engineer Ruchu Hsu with Parsons Brinckerhoff. Wallace Floyd Associates, sub-consultants to Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, was the lead architect/urban designer and facilitated community participation during the design process.[4][5] The engineer of record is HNTB/FIGG. The lead designers were Theodore Zoli (from HNTB) and W. Denney Pate (from FIGG). The bridge follows a new design in which, besides having its eight primary lanes running through the towers, a pair of northbound lanes are cantilevered outside of the cable-stays. It has a striking, graceful appearance that is meant to echo the tower of the Bunker Hill Monument, which is within view of the bridge, and the white cables evoke imagery of the rigging of the USS Constitution, docked nearby.

The 1975-built MBTA Orange Line's Haymarket North Extension tunnel lies beneath the bridge.

Image of the dedication plaque for the bridge

Name

The bridge's full name commemorates Boston civic leader and civil rights activist Leonard P. Zakim who championed "building bridges between peoples",[6] and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Originally, Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci sought to name it the "Freedom Bridge". In 2000, however, local clergy and religious leaders, including Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, requested the Zakim name shortly after Zakim's death from myeloma. Although Cellucci agreed to the naming, community leaders from Charlestown objected to the name as they felt that since the design reflected the nearby Bunker Hill memorial, it should be named the "Bunker Hill Freedom bridge". Allegations of antisemitism were leveled against members of the mostly white, Irish Catholic community as reasons for resistance to the Zakim name, based on some comments quoted in the Boston Globe. In response, several community leaders spoke out against the allegations in a press conference, stating that the claims, made by Professor Jonathan Sarna, were his alone and not reflected in the Jewish community at large.[7]

Eventually a compromise between the Boston City Council, the Massachusetts State Legislature and community activists brought about the current name. As with the Hoover Dam, different communities call the bridge by different colloquial names. Many people in the Charlestown area refer to it as the "Bunker Hill Bridge", while most, including the local press and traffic monitoring services, refer to it as the "Zakim Bridge".

Pachyderm test

A standard test, walking an elephant over the bridge to test its strength, was performed using fourteen "test elephants" on October 14, 2002. The elephants weighed a total of 112,000 pounds (51,000 kg). This test had been used previously when testing the Eads Bridge in St. Louis and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.[8] At the time the other bridges were built, it was believed that elephants had instincts that would keep them from setting foot on unsafe structures.[9]

Landscape design and public art

Placement of footings for the Zakim Bridge required environmental permits to relocate areas of open water surface, changing the contour of the Charles River shoreline. The process of landscape design and environmental mitigation under the bridge deck and around the bridge supports allowed for the creation of a new and accessible public landscape designed by Carol R. Johnson Associates. This under bridge landscape contains a series of perforated stainless steel lighting-based public artworks. Pedestrians and cyclists are able to travel from Charlestown toward Cambridge over the adjacent North Bank Pedestrian Bridge to North Point Park (Cambridge, Massachusetts).[10] This bridge is a link in the Charles River Bike Path.

Dedication

The bridge was dedicated on October 4, 2002, in a ceremony held on the new span. The dedication speakers included members of Zakim's family, government officials, and a performance of the song Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen.[11]

Introducing the song, Springsteen said about Zakim, "... I knew him a little bit during the last year of his life, he was one of those people whose, intensity, inner spirit you could feel even when he was very ill and uh....I guess, you know, we honor his memory obviously not with this beautiful bridge, very lovely, but by continuing on in his fight for social justice."[12]

Miscellaneous facts

Gallery

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Massachusetts Department of Transportation. "MassDOT — The Big Dig — Tunnels and Bridges — The Cable-stayed Bridge". Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  2. 1 2 Eastern Roads. "Leonard P Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (I-93 and US 1)". Retrieved 2006-10-19.
  3. ↑ "Leonard P Zakim-Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (I-93 and US 1)". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  4. ↑ Thomas P. Hughes Rescuing Prometheus, New York, Pantheon, 1998
  5. ↑ Wiley Online Library 19 June 2013, Megaproject Management - Lessons in Risk and Project Management from the Big Dig, pp415-418
  6. ↑ MTA press release (2002-09-18). "Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge Dedication Events Set For October 3–6". Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-28. "He worked tirelessly to build personal bridges between our city's diverse people and neighborhoods." - Joyce Zakim, wife of Lenny Zakim
  7. ↑ Biography of Lenny Zakim in articles and TV programs. "Lenny's Story: Cancer and the Quality of Life". the International Myeloma Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-01-12. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  8. ↑ "The Pachyderm Test". Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  9. ↑ History Channel, This Day In HISTORY, June 14, 1874, "Test Elephant" Proves Eads Bridge Is Safe"
  10. ↑ "Twists & Turns Geometric constraints posed a major challenge for designers of a new footbridge" (PDF).
  11. ↑ "Bruce Springsteen performs at the Leonar (sic) P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge Dedication".
  12. ↑ "Brucebase transcription".
  13. ↑ Daniel, Mac; Globe Staff (2005-03-15). "Bridge's falling ice called fluke of nature". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-10-19.
  14. ↑ Marathe, Amy. "World's Top Ten Bridges". The Travel Channel. Retrieved 2008-02-27.

External links

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