Information
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the city of Toledo began planning the bridge in April 1999, and construction began in 2001. The project consisted of building an 8,800 foot (2,700 m) span across the Maumee River low-lying land. The main span over the Maumee River is a cable-stayed type bridge with a single pylon and two spans 612'-6" (200 m) on each side of the pylon. The main span approaches are approximately 4,000 feet (1,220 m) north of the river and 3,350 feet (1,020 m) south of the Maumee. The bridge opened to traffic on June 24, 2007.
The bridge carries three lanes of traffic in each direction. The road surface reaches a height of 130 feet (40 m) above the surface of the Maumee River. The bridge is the most expensive project ever undertaken by ODOT, costing approximately US$237 million.
The main attraction of the bridge is the single pylon which contains 384 light emitting diode (LED) fixtures that are capable of creating 16.7 million potential color combinations. The LEDs shine through all the glass facing on all four sides of upper 196' feet of the main pylon. These lights should be visible from up to 3 miles (5 km) away.
The community selected a "glass" theme for the bridge design, choosing to honor the region's heritage in the glass manufacturing industry. The bridge was designed by Figg Bridge Engineers, Inc. for the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The bridge is one of two installations of a new cable-stayed cradle system that eliminates anchorages in the pylon by carrying the stays from anchorages in the bridge deck, through the pylon and back to anchorages in the deck. The cradle system provides many benefits during construction and over the 100+ year service life of the bridge. Each strand acts independently, allowing for the selective removal, inspection and replacement of the strands.
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