· Guiding Principles · Paseo Bridge · Light Rail

MoDOT announces design for Paseo Bridge

At its November 14, 2007 meeting in Kansas City, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded the contract for kcICON, the $245 million I-29/I-35 corridor project to replace the Paseo Bridge, to Paseo Corridor Constructors (PCC), a joint venture of Clarkson Construction Company, Massman Construction Co., (both of Kansas City), and Kiewit Western Co. (Omaha, Neb.).

Daniel Serda, KCDC Director, discusses the Bond Bridge design in this KCUR-FM 93.3 News Report.

The winning proposal will create a dramatic 260-foot high, dual-span cable-stayed structure across the Missouri River. Anchored by a single delta-shaped concrete pylon, the new bridge soars 300 feet above the River in a fanned cable-stay arrangement that creates a dramatic gateway portal between the northern and southern parts of Kansas City. The Christopher S. Bond Missouri River Bridge will be distinguished chiefly by its height, which will best the Liberty Memorial (217 feet) and the Bartle Hall expansion over I-670 (200 feet).

The new crossing will include three through lanes in each direction and an auxiliary (merge) lane for northbound traffic to enter and exit the bridge. The constructed bridge also will accommodate a future southbound bicycle and pedestrian crossing that will be separated from interstate traffic by a roadway barrier. The roadway deck is divided in half by a four-foot tall concrete median, while two-foot concrete guard rails are topped with steel rails to provide drivers clear views from the bridge.

The winning design features aesthetic details that reinforce the graceful simplicity of the bridge's engineering. Indentations in each edge of the pylon reduce its visual bulk and the amount of concrete required to cast the structure. Other key structural features, such as the cable anchors, are accented with color and visible from the deck to emphasize their work in carrying the highway across the river. The height of the pylon is scaled to the width of the highway (a wider roadway would have required an H-shaped pylon). The "legs" of the pylon are compact and seem to dissolve into the river bed. Square LED panels attached to the outside face of each girder reinforce the horizontal lines of the roadway deck, and can be programmed to provide dynamic nighttime displays with varying colors.

The principal designer of the Bond Bridge is Bradley Touchstone, an architect with the DodStone Group of Tallahassee, Florida. Other major participants in the PCC proposal include Parsons Transportation Group of St. Louis and the Kansas City office of TranSystems Corporation.

The PCC proposal outscored a competing bid by American Bridge Company of Coraopolis, Pa., which partnered with the Overland Park, Kan. office of URS Corporation and Ideker, Inc., a St. Joseph, Mo. design-build contractor. MoDOT's final recommendation to the MHTC was determined primarily by differences in the project definition (scope) and durability of the proposed structures.

KCDC Director on Community Advisory Group

Daniel Serda, KCDC Director, was appointed by the Downtown Council in 2005 to serve as its representative on the Community Advisory Group (CAG) formed by MoDOT to provide input on planning and design of the new bridge.

The CAG represents a diverse range of stakeholders, including the cities of Kansas City and North Kansas City, the Mid-America Regional Council, the Columbus Park neighborhood, the Chouteau Courts and Guinotte Manor housing developments, and the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Visit the kcICON project site to view a video about the design-build process and the role of the Community Advisory Group.

With the support of MoDOT staff, the CAG refined MoDOT's proposed goals for the project and voiced a range of community concerns to MoDOT leadership during the mandated federal environmental review and development of the request for proposals to design-build teams bidding for the project.

In a remarkable show of support for community control over the project, MoDOT director Pete Rahn announced at the 2006 MHTC meeting in Kansas City that the CAG would be alloted 20/100 points to evaluate the proposed designs submitted by each design-build team.

Read Daniel Serda's comments to the 2006 MHTC meeting about the importance of the CAG's input on the project.

Community Input on New Bridge Design

During the proposal review process, Dr. Serda served on a CAG subcommittee tasked with articulating a community vision for the design of the proposed crossing. The aesthetics subcommittee met with each proposing team several times over the course of the spring and summer, and responded to ideas that included a range of alternative structure types, styles, design elements, and aesthetic enhancements for the project corridor.

Through these interactions, each team responded to feedback from the CAG representatives to develop and refine its proposed bridge concept. By July, working within the budget constraints, and striving for a design that also enabled them to meet four other project goals (see below), each team had developed a different engineering approach and unique proposal for an iconic landmark bridge.

The American Bridge/Walsh team proposed to rehabilitate and reuse the towers of the existing Paseo Bridge as the foundation for a three-span, dual-bridge cable-stayed crossing. Each of the existing Paseo Bridge towers would be extended vertically by approximately forty feet, and the cables of the existing self-anchored suspension bridge would be dismantled. Eleven cable stays would extend from each face of the four bridge towers to anchors mounted on the outside edge of the roadway girders in a "harp" (parallel) configuration.

The rehabilitated Paseo would be mirrored by a second three-span crossing for northbound traffic. All four towers would be topped by art deco finials, and the cable stays on both bridges would be illuminated by fixtures mounted atop the cable anchors. A programmable light cannon suspended in the middle of the two spans just below the roadway deck would accentuate the height and presence of the dual bridge crossing.

Because each team was scored only 20/100 points for aesthetics, the final recommendation developed by MoDOT was not ultimately determined by the bridge design. Major evaluation criteria included the project definition (geographic scope of proposed improvements), maintenance of traffic during construction, and durability of the proposed structures.

Past KCDC Involvement

The KCDC became directly involved in planning for the new Paseo Bridge in March 2005, when it hosted a Leadership Forum presentation by David Billington, Professor of Civil Engineering at Princeton University, an international authority on the design of landmark bridges. The Forum, which was attended by approximately two dozen community leaders - including MoDOT senior staff and representatives of Sen. Kit Bond's office - underscored the need for MoDOT to seize this once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new landmark crossing over the Missouri River.

In addition to his CAG role, in the fall of 2005, Dr. Serda also organized a collaborative effort among KCDC, the Downtown Council, AIA Kansas City, and the Regional Transit Alliance to ensure that MoDOT's planning for the project corridor included appropriate consideration of transit enhancements, non-capacity transportation improvements such as HOV lanes and other forms of transportation demand management (TDM), and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.

These efforts also included a technical study undertaken by the Regional Transit Alliance with the assistance of Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, a Florida transportation engineering firm recognized nationally for its expertise in context-sensitive design, which promotes the inclusion of transit, urban design, environmental and aesthetic considerations in the planning of major roadway projects.

kcICON Project Goals

• Deliver the Interstate 29/35 corridor improvements within the total program budget of $245 million.
• Construct a landmark Missouri River bridge(s) that can be reasonably maintained to provide more than a century of useful service.
• Maximize safety, mobility, aesthetic and capacity improvements in the corridor.
• Engage stakeholders and the community to successfully develop and deliver the project.
• Meet or beat the project completion date of October 31, 2011.