Shelby Street Bridge

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Shelby Street Bridge, seen from Riverfront Park

The Shelby Street Bridge (sometimes called the Shelby Avenue Bridge) is a truss bridge that spans the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee. It was originally opened on July 5, 1909 and was reopened as a pedestrian bridge on August 3, 2003. The bridge spans 960 m (3,150 ft) and is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world.

1 Early history
2 Repair Work
3 National Register of Historic Places
4 Closure and Reopening
5 Trivia
6 References

[edit] Early history

Shelby Street Bridge in the 1920s

The Shelby Street Bridge was originally known as the Sparkman Street Bridge and was built one block south of Broadway connecting Sparkman Street and Shelby Avenue.^[1] The bridge was constructed at a cost of about $475,000. Another bridge called the Jefferson Street Bridge which was virtually identical to it was built at the same time. The Jefferson Street Bridge was opened a year after the Sparkman Street Bridge. The substructures of the bridges were light grey concrete and the superstructures were made of steel that had been painted black.

The bridge was the first in North America to have concrete arched trusses.

The bridge was designed and construction was supervised by Howard M. Jones who was the chief office engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. The original architectural drawings as approved by Jones are archived at the Metro Transportation Offices.

[edit] Repair Work

After twenty-five years of use it became apparent that there was something wrong with the concrete on the Sparkman Street Bridge. The worn surfaces of the concrete were chipped away between 1927 and 1930 and replaced with gunite.

Thirty years later repair work had to be done again. The Standard Engineering Company of Albany, New York was hired to repair the weathered bridge. They subcontracted the steel work to the Nashville Bridge Company. During this repair time the Jefferson Street Bridge was also repaired.

[edit] National Register of Historic Places

In 1998 the Shelby Street Bridge was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places. The main reason was the unique truss design used on the bridge. Both the Shelby Street Bridge and the Jefferson Street Bridge were considered. The Jefferson Street Bridge was rejected because of its similarity to the Shelby Street Bridge and the fact that the Shelby Street Bridge was in better condition. The Jefferson Street Bridge was demolished in 1990 to make way for a new bridge that could handle more traffic.

[edit] Closure and Reopening

As part of the bridge's renovation for pedestrian use, an extensive new lighting system was installed.

State inspectors declared the bridge to be in "poor" condition in 1992, and the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1998. The bridge was originally slated for demolition. However, because the bridge is so architecturally appealing and historical it was decided to convert it to a pedestrian bridge rather than demolishing it. The success of the Walnut Street Bridge as a part of Chattanooga's urban renewal efforts was a major consideration in keeping the bridge.

The bridge was refurbished and includes an elevator, ramps and stairways. The bridge has a center lane that is fifteen feet across to accommodate bicycles. Originally it was thought that a trolley might use the center lane but that idea was abandoned in favor of a bicycle lane. On each side of the bicycle lane are ten foot wide elevated boardwalk-style sidewalks. The bridge includes four scenic pedestrian overlooks that have artistic renderings of the history of life on the Cumberland River in the metal of the railing. The bridge is dramatically lit at night.

The refurbished bridge is part of the Metro Nashville Greenway system which is administered by the Parks Department. The Eastern terminus includes a pedestrian plaza with special landscaping and is very close to LP Field. The Western terminus comes out facing the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and is very close to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

The refurbishment of the bridge cost in excess of $15 million and was done under the supervision and planning of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. A new bridge called The Gateway Bridge was built to handle the vehicle traffic that used to travel over the Shelby Street Bridge.