Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 1, 1993 TAG: 9310010194
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Architects hope it will be a bridge worthy of a postcard. A bridge they believe will help make a statement about Roanoke.
It will be a 350-foot, glass-enclosed structure that will span the Norfolk Southern tracks between the proposed Hotel Roanoke Conference Center and a plaza on the east side of the Dominion Tower.
The $2 million bridge will be 15 feet wide with space at the center where pedestrians can stop, watch trains and take photographs.
More than 50 downtown business leaders, architects, tourism officials and others liked the proposed design of the bridge that was unveiled Thursday by architects with Hayes, Seay, Mattern and Mattern.
The architects have developed two proposals, which are similar except for the design of the cables to support the bridge.
One proposal uses conventional and traditional cable supports, while the other concept has a more modernistic image with cables bunched together.
The audience was divided on the two cable designs. Tim Jamieson, one of the architects of the project, said the final design might be a hybrid of the cable arrangements.
The bridge will be 25 feet above the railroad tracks to provide the necessary clearance for trains to pass beneath.
The idea of a pedestrian bridge over the tracks has been discussed for many years, but it has never been built for various reasons.
This time, the bridge will be built because the city has the money and is committed to the project. The bridge is expected to be finished by 1995, when the hotel will reopen.
Since the underground pedestrian walkway between Norfolk and Shenandoah avenues was closed, the only way for pedestrians to cross the tracks was the at-grade crossing.
The architects have incorporated many suggestions were made by architects, downtown merchants and others at a brainstorming session last month.
Most of the discussion at Thursday's meeting centered on where the bridge will begin on the south end. The architects have recommended that it begin about in the middle of a green space next to the Dominion Tower. They said this would help direct pedestrians to the City Market.
Some people worried this would take part of the area that is used for First Fridays at Five and other festivals that use the space.
But others said the architects' proposal for the bridge to touch down in the green space would help ensure that it remains vacant.
"With the bridge there, we won't have it to worry that someone will put another building next to the tower," said one man.
Others said the bridge could become a meeting place in downtown for those going to the hotel or City Market. They said it could become a landmark.
Jon Stephenson, one of the architects, said the display space at the center of the bridge might be large enough to contain one of the exhibits in the Virginia Museum of Transportation. That would be a way to link the bridge to the museum and a proposed linear park along the railroad tracks.
At the south end of the bridge, there would be an escalator and stairs. The bridge would be connected to the Dominion Tower garage and an elevator.
At the north end, there would be stairs and an elevator for handicapped people.
by CNB