The pedestrian bridge connecting Squibb Park, at the foot of Columbia Heights, to Brooklyn Bridge Park, expected to be completed by summer of 2012, will have an innovative design by MacArthur Genius Award winning engineer Ted Zoli, using timber as the principal material.
Popular Mechanics: Supported by poured-concrete pillars and suspended by steel cables, the primary construction material will be 6- and 10-inch-diameter pieces of Robinia pseudoacacia, or black locust, a tree found widely in the Southeast but also prevalent in forests of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Black locust is extremely rot-resistant, durable and sustainable, Zoli says. The rough-sawn decking and wooden structural posts will have a natural finish that changes color and even warps slightly with exposure to the elements, a desired effect.
According to the Popular Mechanics article, the bridge will “zigzag gracefully through a clutch of tall oaks, between buildings and over a street, descending 30 feet in elevation from its starting point to its endpoint in Brooklyn Bridge Park.”
Image: Popular Mechanics