Pedestrian Ways: Adaptive Re-use

These are examples of adaptive uses of abandoned bridges around the world:

Source: Flikr.com

Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, USA

In 1929, with the bridge covered in weeds, Antoinette Burnham came up with the idea of transforming the bridge into a garden. Since the bridge was not needed as a footbridge and could not be demolished because it carried a water main between the two towns, her idea was agreed upon by those in the community. The Shelburne Woman's Club sponsored the project in 1928. In 1929, eighty loads of loam and several loads of fertilizer were brought to the bridge. Several women's clubs around town raised $1,000 in 1929 . -- Wikipedia

The official homepage of the Bridge of Flowers.

Source: Nixer wikipedia.org

Pushkinsky Pedestrian Bridge, Moscow, Russia, 2000

Instead of scrapping the steel arch of the 1907 Andreyevsky Rail Bridge, city planners re-used it as a structural core for the new pedestrian bridge. May 22, 1999, three barges towed the steel frame to the new anchorage, 1.5 kilometre downstream.  -- Wikipedia.

Source: Sergey A skyscrapercity.com

Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Kievsky) Pedestrian Bridge, Moscow, Russia, 2001

Instead of scrapping the old steel arch from Krasnoluzhsky Rail Bridge, city planners re-used it as a structural core of the new pedestrian bridge, half a mile upstream.

Main pedestrian walkway and stairs are completely enclosed in a glass canopy; there are two open-air side walkways.  -- Wikipedia.

Source: Laurent

Source: Te-Ming Chang

Viaduc des Arts, Paris, France 

The Viaduc was an abandoned, crumbling, decaying 19th-century railroad viaduct. It was scheduled to be demolished. Instead, it has been transformed into a rich 21st-century combination of shops and parkland. The shops are tucked into the arches that support the viaduct. The park is a strip of green that follows the old train bed, up on top of the arches. You get the life of commerce and the peace of greenery in the same place.-- Boston Globe, 3/12/2002

The official home page of Viaduc des Arts.

The High Line in 2005, Source: figure-ground.com

The High Line in 2009, Source: lucas_roberts426 thehighline.org

High Line, New York City, USA designed by James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro

In May 2003, James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro competed against 720 teams from 36 countries to win the infrastructure conversion project of the New York City High Line. More than half a decade later, the High Line’s transition to a public park is almost complete. On June 8th, architects, elected officials, and advocates watched as Mayor Michael Bloomberg cut the ceremonial red ribbon, officially announcing the opening of the first of three sections.-- ArchDaily

Phase 2 of the High Line is opened -- ArchDaily
Read the news from Architectural Record
The official web site of the High Line
Video: A Conversation with Charlie Rose about the NYC High Line -- ArchDaily
The High Line’s Third (and Final) Section Opens this Weekend -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com

Freight House Pedestrian Bridge, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, 2006 designed by BNIM

Once located along the riverfront, the Pencoyd Railroad Bridge was built in 1892 and closed in 1970. Led by BNIM, the recipient of the 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm Award, this historic bridge was relocated in 2006 to a new home where it became part of a new pedestrian link spanning the railroad artery separating the revitalized Crossroads district from popular civic destinations to the south.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Max Kun Zhang archdaily.com

Des Moines Union Railway Bridge, Des Moines, Iowa, USA, 2006 designed by Safdie Rabines Architects

Safdie Rabines Architects‘ restoration and rehabilitation of this original 1800’s railway bridge provides a new scenic bicycle and pedestrian link over the Des Moines River. -- ArchDaily

Source: Wikipedia.com

Poughkeepsie Bridge, Poughkeepsie, New York to Highland, New York, USA

The Poughkeepsie Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie, New York on the east bank and Highland, New York on the west bank. Built as a double track railroad bridge, it was completed on January 1, 1889, and went out of service on May 8, 1974. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, updated in 2008.   It was opened to the public on October 3, 2009, as a pedestrian and cyclist bridge and New York State Park.

This bridge is now the longest footbridge in the world. -- Wikipedia.

Source: architectural-review.com

Taiping Bridge Renovation by School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Guizhou Province, China

The TaiPing Bridge Project was a two-year reconstruction scheme for a 300-year-old bridge in the Guizhou Province of China. While the reconstruction of one collapsed arch (following flooding in 2005) was a large undertaking, the designers also faced the less measurable challenge of how to revitalise this once important location. To this end they designed custom-made pavers to form planters and seating that would encourage people to gather here. -- Architectural Review

Source: Ross Barney Architects

Bloomingdale Trail, Chicago, Illinois, USA

a proposed park and multiuse path of nearly three miles that would be built atop a dormant elevated railroad line on the city’s Northwest Side.

The project’s first phase would cost about $46 million and would be paid for with a mix of federal money and privately raised local funds, city officials said. They want to open parts of the project in 2014. -- Cityscape

High Line-Inspired Park proposed in Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Now Queens, a borough with its own abandoned infrastructure is on its way to redeveloping the land for its own version of the High Line, to be known as the Queensway Cultural Gateway. In late December, the Trust for Public Land announced that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has awarded a $467,000 grant to the organization to begin a feasibility study on the 3.5 mile Long Island rail line. -- ArchDaily