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This is the twelfth in a series of entries celebrating infrastructure achievements in the United States.

What: The Sundial Bridge, a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava , is also-as its name suggests-a sundial.

When: The bridge opened July 4, 2004

Why: The Sundial Bridge links the north and south campuses of Turtle Bay Exploration Park and serves as a new downtown entrance for Redding’s extensive Sacramento River Trail system.

Stats:
– Length: 700 ft
– Width: 23 ft
– Height: 217 ft

Interesting facts: The amount of concrete used in the bridge foundation (1,900 cubic yards) is equivalent to the amount needed to complete foundations for 43 homes. It took 6.27 million cubic yards of concrete to make Shasta Dam and 16,000 cubic yards for the base of the TransAmerica Tower.

The superstructure was made of enough cable to stretch across more than 14 football fields.

The bridge is environmentally sensitive to its river setting. The tall pylon and cable stays allow the bridge to avoid the nearby salmon-spawning habitat there are no supports in the water while encouraging public appreciation for the river.

Tags: Bridges, California, Great American Infrastructure, redding, sundial bridge

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Bridges, Environment, Great American Infrastructure, Inland Waterways, Local, The Infra Blog, Urban Planning . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.